"Judge gets Pa. capital’s bankruptcy petition" October 17, 2011|By Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa.- A federal judge will hear arguments today over whether Pennsylvania’s cash-strapped capital can move ahead with a bankruptcy petition.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Harrisburg’s mayor are fighting a 4 to 3 City Council vote that authorized the city to file for bankruptcy protection. The city of 50,000 is saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and six pending lawsuits, mostly related to an aging trash incinerator.
The US Environmental Protection Agency shut down the incinerator in 2000 for excessive pollution, and then officials backed a plan to spend $125 million on upgrades that were supposed to fix the problems and return the incinerator to profitability.
But the fixes only led to more problems and debt....
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"Harrisburg appeals bankruptcy ruling" Associated Press / December 12, 2011
The City Council has appealed a judge’s decision to throw out the bankruptcy petition of Pennsylvania’s debt-choked capital city, its attorney said.
Pay up, Pennsylvania.
The appeal was filed Saturday in federal court, City Council attorney Mark Schwartz said in an email.
Last month, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled that Harrisburg may not seek bankruptcy protection, calling such a filing illegal. That ruling cleared the way for the state to take over the city.
I must have missed that piece in my collection effort.
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"City Council in Pa. capital again seeks bankruptcy" December 11, 2011
HARRISBURG, Pa.—The City Council has appealed a judge's decision to throw out the bankruptcy petition of Pennsylvania's debt-choked capital city, its attorney said.
City Council attorney Mark Schwartz said in an email: "This is a case that could very well end up in the U.S. Supreme Court."
Harrisburg is dogged by a number of financial problems, but the $300 million debt on its nearly 40-year-old trash incinerator is the most pressing.
Beset by environmental problems and fines for years, it was shut down by federal regulators in 2003.
I was told 2000 above, but who wants to nitpick?
Related: Boiling Mad at Obama's EPA
Faced with the costly decision to abandon the polluting incinerator and clean the site or to finance an overhaul, the City Council voted for the latter in hopes that it would one day emerge as a profitable investment.
But the renovation went awry and ended up being far more expensive than initially anticipated.
Now Harrisburg city residents now pay among the highest trash-disposal rates in the nation, while the incinerator can't generate nearly enough money to pay the debt.
Supporters of the bankruptcy petition viewed it as the best way to force creditors, such as Dauphin County and bond insurer Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., to assume part of the incinerator debt.
It's time that "investors" began making some sacrifices.
The Republican governor and Democratic Mayor Linda Thompson had opposed the petition....
Don't you love bipartisanship?
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Related: Alabama: Bullies and Bankruptcy
