The City of Erie had a budget deficit of $1.3 million in 2006. That’s according to the draft of the audit done by the regional CPA firm of McGill, Power, Bell and Associates. One of the requirements to have Erie declared a distressed city under Act 47, the Distressed Municipalities Financial Recovery Act, is five [...]

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The 5th floor of Erie City Hall should love hearing this one. An elected member of Erie City Council emailed me and pointed out with the low voter turnout in last Tuesday’s election, the number of signatures needed to hold a hearing to determine if Erie should be declared a distressed city under Act 47, [...]

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Yesterday Erie took one step closer to the state taking over the city under Act 47. Pennsylvania Act 47 is the law that allows the state to take over cities that qualify for ‘distressed city status.’ The city was turned down in an attempt to refinance bonds. No insurance company would bond the cash strapped [...]

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Old-fashioned type post card by the talented Ron Richardson. Click on the image for a full size view. His Flick.com photos can be seen here and his photography site can be found here. The City of Erie sent out two week notices to 26 city employees. Many were politcal appointees that will be replaced when [...]

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