PA Secretary Masch Comments on Pittsburgh Recovery Plan Consensus

PA PR The plan approved by the ICA today represents the consensus solution we have been working toward for many months,' Secretary Masch said. 'I want to thank Mayor Murphy, the members of the Act 47 Recovery Team and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority for their willingness to labor long and hard to make this happen.

Yes, Tom Murphy is due plenty of thanks for the on-going decline of the city. The city's leaders pushed the city to the brink of extinction after years of hard work, long labors and bone-headed moves. They made it happen. Now checks might bounce next month. Stay tuned.

This plan not only restores Pittsburgh to fiscal stability, it preserves the City's vibrant quality of life and enhances the City's ability to compete economically.

Next we'll learn that 60,000 black-and-gold tailgate fans get fed at Hooters on three loafs and some fish sticks.

Quick and decisive action is now required on the part of the City and the Commonwealth to implement this plan so that a cash crisis does not engulf the City and undo all of the difficult and important work that has been accomplished to date to restore Pittsburgh to financial stability.

The quickest and most decisive course of action is resignation of all involved.

'The 2005-2009 Financial Plan for the City of Pittsburgh includes a balanced mix of cuts in city expenditures and new fees and taxes designed to ensure that both sacrifices and benefits are shared among businesses, residents and commuters. The new plan incorporates all of the key provisions of the original Act 47 Recovery Plan approved last June and improves on that plan by making responsible, measured additional spending cuts.

What about the formation of the Pittsburgh Park Distict?

'Tax reform is a key component of the plan. These reforms include the elimination of the Business Privilege Tax and Mercantile Tax, which have been detrimental to Pittsburgh's economic development. These would be replaced by new and more balanced revenue sources including a new Payroll Tax and an increase in the Occupation Privilege Tax. The Plan also provides for a badly needed, phased reduction in the City's current parking tax. And the plan also recognizes that Pittsburgh's finances will be significantly aided by the new state gaming legislation enacted last July, which will provide the City with a minimum of $10 million in annual gaming revenue beginning in 2007.

Unreal.

City officials, the Act 47 Recovery Team and the ICA have all done their part to restore Pittsburgh to fiscal and economic health. Now the Commonwealth must do its part. For this carefully crafted financial plan to succeed, the state government must grant the City of Pittsburgh the necessary taxing powers it needs to reform its tax structure and restore itself to fiscal stability. Those powers must be authorized before the General Assembly adjourns for the year on Nov. 30. Unless that happens, the outlook for one of the Commonwealth's finest cities will be bleak indeed.'"

Unreal squared.
How can these jokers say that they have done their part. The plan is so magical, yet it will go poof at midnight, like Cinderella.