The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

May 8, 2008

Greenville mayor makes a Top 10 list of reasons to bash state’s Act 47

By Monica Pryts

GREENVILLE — Thursday marked the sixth anniversary of Greenville being declared financially distressed and Mayor Richard H. Miller had some choice words in a document titled “Top 10 reasons Act 47 beats sliced bread.”

Miller had copies of the list at Thursday’s council work session, but it didn’t come up for discussion. Some council members hadn’t read it, while the others weren’t willing to comment.

Greenville entered Act 47, the state’s debt recovery plan for distressed towns, because of fiscal mismanagement, which brought on a horde of consultants, prodding and probing and “voluminous volumes” of recommendations, Miller said in the document.

Dr. Mary Jane Hirt, Greenville’s Act 47 coordinator appointed by the state in 2006, and her team recently revised the recovery plan created by the first coordinator, making 101 new recommendations.

By her reckoning and the pace at which the borough is moving, Greenville will be in Act 47 until April 2014, Miller said. Five of the seven council members may prefer Act 47, using it as a copout, he said.

“Their motto remains ‘we are broke,’ even after a surplus of $1.23 million was revealed late last year,” he said.

Believing there’s a silver lining to every cloud, Miller created a list of 10 reasons why Act 47 has been good for Greenville. They include:

The borough is contributing to the logging and paper business because the original and revised Act 47 plans weigh several pounds each and selling copies at $45 each could get Greenville out of debt, he said.

The state decides who provides Act 47 consulting services and appointed Dr. Hirt without giving a reason and council members depend on her to make decisions.

Act 47 towns can tax workers at higher percentages and Greenville can be sloppy at collecting those taxes and in the case of non-residents, make neighboring municipalities chase what’s owed them, Miller said.

Greenville is able to plead poverty even though a surplus has been built up. Council saves time negotiating labor contracts because the Act 47 plan says wage gains are limited to 3 percent a year, he said.

Lastly, Act 47 consultants tell the borough how to fix everything, even if it’s not broken, but the important fixes are being left for last or ignored altogether, he said.

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