Our city is twice as broke as everybody thought
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 09:50AM The grim news:
Reading's projected year-end deficit will nearly double, to $17.2 million, as earned-income tax revenues are falling way under budget, overtime expenses are higher and the city paid on a loan with money it doesn't have, outside consultants told City Council on Monday.
The higher deficit - well over the $9 million earlier projected - means the city will have to borrow $17.2 million just to meet its bills this year.
It also will have to add another $900,000 to next year's budget to begin paying off the loan, said Gordon Mann, senior consultant for the team. The state-hired team created the city's Act 47 financial recovery plan and now is helping implement it.
Really, is there any way Reading can dig its way out of this hole? It's the poorest city in the nation, and the chronically unemployed residents can't afford higher taxes. And the few that can will move out. Casino gambling anyone?
Reader Comments (9)
How about making mulit-billionaire and Reading Phillies owner Craig Stein finally pay something back to the tax payers for all the money he's made courtesy of the Reading taxpayers via the Reading politicians he has owned on the cheap over all these years. I noticed Stein's statewide clout is evident in the state plan to bring Reading back from the brink of bankruptcy did NOT include getting even a small share of baseball revenues at municipal stadium. Hey, why should the billionaire cough up a little money that he's made on the back of the Reading taxpayers all these years?
Al:
The situation is truly moving toward hopelessness. I don't see anyone that has answers...As I've posted before, I have a lot of interaction w/city residents, and the majority of them aren't even aware of the fiscal problems and their consequences. They either don't read the newspaper, or don't hit the Eagle or your Websites. And many don't really care because Reading, in its present state, remains a helluva lot cleaner, safer,etc. than where they came from ( from another country or even a more down-trodden city). And some figure "the government" will take care of everything (Feds or state). Not happening, especially when you have Calfornia ready to go bellyup. I live in a small town 10 miles north of Reading, and all the people in my area have basically written off Reading , and that's part of the problem too. I see of a day of reckoning coming, with massive cuts in services (on top of what's already been sliced), and a ugly battle with unions on pension and health care costs
THE ONLY SOLUTION IS TO TAR AND FEATHER THOSE RESPONSIBLE,
AND THEN DECLARE BANKRUPCY.
MAYBE READING COULD GET SOME GRANT MONEY FROM MEXICO,
AND ASSORTED SOUTH AMERICAN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES.
Where is Nero when you need him?
"Our city is twice as broke as everybody thought"
ALSO OUR MAYOR AND COUNCIL (THE BUZZARDS THAT
ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MESS) ARE TWICE AS STUPID
AS EVERYBODY THOUGHT!
Well, folks, what do you expect when the majority of the populace engage in no productive economic activity whatsoever but prefer to passively drain the surplus funds set aside for NECESSARY, JUSTIFIED and DESERVED public assistance for persons TRULY in need of TEMPORARY financial relief? Most of these parasites won't even take the trouble to learn and speak the heretofore universally recognized and accepted language of the United States of America (that would be English, for anyone in doubt). As long as Reading remains a filthy, run-down city of slums inhabited by hostile, violent non-productive malingerers, it will continue to teeter on the brink of chaos and ruin.
"As long as Reading remains a filthy, run-down city of slums inhabited by hostile, violent non-productive malingerers, it will continue to teeter on the brink of chaos and ruin."
September 9, 2010 | Conshohocken Mom
Hmmm, now why would someone who lives in Conshohocken even care what happens in Reading. Oh wait, I forgot that bigotry and racism has no city limits.
CONSHOHOCKEN MOM, YOU NAILED IT!
"Oh wait, I forgot that bigotry and racism has no city limits."
Neither do freeloading parasites and their limp-wristed liberal apologists.