As city officials roll out their new sewer authority designed to tax neighboring community, many of our neighbors are already sounding Red Alert, and with good reason. The new sewer authority hasn't even held it's first meeting and it's already in debt with start up costs.
Butch Frati, director of operations for the city “We’re just asking that they pay their fair share,”
They, being our neighboring community's that is, as the city puts it, uses the Wilkes-Barre city sewer system as a runoff. So I guess it's true what they say about $h!t running down hills?
Meanwhile our neighboring communities don't seem to be taking kindly to the strong arm tactics of this runaway city government.
“We don’t know a thing,” said Plains Township Sewer Manager Andrew Lazar.
“We don’t know what Wilkes-Barre city’s going to do. Once we know what they’re going to do, we’ll make our plans,” he said, and although he would not comment on whether Plains Township would respond to the city’s plan with litigation.
“We’ll decide that when we know what Wilkes-Barre city is doing,” he said.
“I don’t want to see the residents in Plains Township have to add on additional fees,” Lazar said. “We’ve been trying to save the residents’ fees and now these people are coming to try and tax us.
It’s ridiculous.”
Relax: This isn't about taxing anyone. This is nothing more than Mayor Tom Lie-A-Ton running the city into a hole, not having the cash to meet payroll for the year end, compound that with the shafting he got when the city parking authority promised him $150,000 but only ponied up $75,000. Now it's crunch time, and he doesn't want to default on his watch, so he will appoint hand plucked bobbleheads to this new sewer authority, who will likely float a bond or two, then by slight of hand, pass the cash back to the king keeping the city solvent until the next mayor (Frank or Tony) takes over, realizes the debt is well beyond the $120 million dollar guesstimate, the Johnson Controls bond (AKA last terms slight of hand loan) payments balloon to just over $3.2 Million NEXT YEAR, and they are forced into distressed city status, and Lie-A-Ton can sit back and say "everything was fine when I left, and we had a good credit rating", even though the city was just about $59 Million in debt when he first took office and now 12 years later DOUBLED.
Fact: Lie-A-Ton has NEVER paid down the debt, NEVER had a plan too!
Wake Up Wilkes Barre
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