Of course this is just a starting point and what was presented last night probably won’t look a whole lot like the finished product according to City Finance director Omar Strohm.
The distressed city is looking down the barrel of an operational deficit of about $2.5 million for next year. To add to the problem, the unreserved fund balance won’t be much help because it only has about half that much available to draw from.
The Act 47 consulting team chosen by the Department of Community and Economic Development will file their recovery plan with the city clerk on November 13. That plan will probably call for various cost cutting measures as well as revenue enhancement by doing away with caps on earned income and real estate taxes.
Councilman Bruce Kelley said last night that he wished the plan had been made available a month ago.
When they do finally get it, the recovery plan council members will be working with will be between 300 and 500 pages long.
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