HARRISBURG – State Sen. John N. Wozniak has praised passage of the most comprehensive reforms of the state’s municipal recovery law in the quarter century since it was passed.
The Senate voted unanimously to approve House Bill 1773, which reforms Act 47 of 1987, a law that was intended to provide temporary help to financially distressed municipalities.
“That temporary help that was enacted more than 25 years ago became more or less permanent and that was not the intention,” Wozniak said. “These reforms enforce a buy-in from all stakeholders and provide a way out for distressed municipalities.”
The bill gives municipalities a wider range of revenue raising and cost-cutting options, but limits participation in the program to five years, while giving the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development more authority in enforcing a recovery plan. It also limits participation to five years with a possible three-year extension.
“There’s something for everyone to like and not to like,” Wozniak said. “There are carrots and sticks in this bill. That’s the only way to move the ball forward and help municipalities become stable and self-sufficient.”
Twenty Pennsylvania municipalities are currently designated as distressed under Act 47, including Johnstown, which entered the program in 1992, and Altoona, which was declared distressed in 2012.
The bill now goes back to the House.