USA: Pittsburgh erwägt 'Bankrotterklärung'
Geschrieben von Andreas am 18. Mai 2003 10:43:07:
Als Antwort auf: NACHRICHTEN: (o.T.) geschrieben von franz_liszt am 18. Mai 2003 02:18:40:
http://www.postgazette.com/neigh_city/20030517cityfinancesc1.asp
City studies budget options - including bankruptcy
Murphy administration officials are studying "worst-case scenarios" including bankruptcy, layoffs and closing city facilities in case the city does not get budget help by July 1. Mayor Tom Murphy's top aide, executive secretary Tom Cox, issued a letter to City Council yesterday saying the administration remains "optimistic" that the city will receive some state assistance by the end of next month. The city's $386 million budget is counting on state aid, and the merger of the Fire and Emergency Medical Services bureaus, in the next six weeks to help close a $60 million budget gap. Should those efforts fail, Cox told council members, city officials are studying bankruptcy and budget cuts that could "seriously compromise the quality of life in Pittsburgh." Cox said bankruptcy "is an option of last resort" but directed the city Law Department to begin studying it. "Exploring the legal issues associated with bankruptcy is, I believe, prudent at this time," he wrote.
Should the city go bankrupt, it could be declared economically distressed, allowing a state overseer to review city spending and tax revenues and impose layoffs or new contracts on personnel. Cox also directed department heads to study what can be "realistically, legally and effectively cut" from the city's budget. "The worst case examination must include personnel, services and facilities cuts and closings, which we would all agree would seriously compromise the quality of life in Pittsburgh," he wrote. Murphy has long said layoffs would be the city's first budget-cutting step should the city not get budget aid. The city could pay off debt and other obligations until roughly November, the mayor has said. Cox's letter does not detail what services or facilities could face cuts. The most expensive services are public safety (police, fire and medics) and public works, which includes garbage collection, street cleaning and the like.
It also pays a Parks Department (overseeing parks, senior centers, recreation centers and swimming pools); a Planning Department (overseeing zoning permits and land use); a building inspection bureau; an Engineering Department (overseeing street, sidewalk and bridge construction); and smaller agencies.
A report issued Tuesday by Gov. Ed Rendell's task force on the Pittsburgh budget says the city should cut $25.5 million from its budget this year by merging the fire and medic bureaus, reducing costs by 5 percent department-wide, consolidating services with other governments and other options.The report recommends state approval of a temporary Pittsburgh Financial Review Board to oversee city spending and revenues and require arbitrators to consider city finances when awarding contracts. The task force report issues a list of Pittsburgh revenue increases for state legislators to consider, including raising the $10 occupation tax to $58 yearly; closing business privilege tax exemptions; and allowing Murphy's proposed half-percent payroll tax and 10 percent retail liquor tax. Rendell said he would issue a final list of budgeting recommendations to the General Assembly by early June. The task force report also dismisses the idea of bankruptcy-type protection, saying their other recommendations would be preferable.
"While the city's fiscal situation could be remedied by seeking assistance through the Financially Distressed Municipalities Act ... we believe that the more prudent course of action is through the series of cost reductions and by providing the city with a fair, broad-based revenue system," the report says.
The Murphy administration may be raising the bankruptcy issue partly as a shot across the bow to city firefighter's union President Joseph King, who criticized the fire-medic merger proposal again Thursday, saying it is unsafe and designed to cut firefighter job protections. Murphy is counting on the merger to save $7.5 million this year and $15 million annually. King vowed Thursday he would not meet again with Murphy or his operations director (and former paramedic chief) Robert Kennedy on merger talks. That drove Kennedy to say the merger would probably not be completed by July 1, possibly leading to layoffs of city personnel.