2nd Annual Legislative Luncheon
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
Federal stimulus money, the intermunicipal sewer agreement and education were among the issues tackled by lawmakers Friday at the second annual Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Luncheon.
As for the sewer agreement, Mayor Tom Riel said it's "finally being moved along – albeit because we were basically under the gun by the DEP that we had to do something or face some very large monetary penalties."
"Unfortunately, it's going to cost a lot of money and everybody's going to have to foot the bill in some manner," he said. "Hopefully it won't be as bad as we thought it would be originally."
But Bradford Township Supervisor Don Cummins said his board isn't ready to sign the agreement until language that could mean as much as a 70 percent increase in sewer rates is changed.
He also said "DEP has held the Tuna Valley hostage for two years" by making the municipalities submit, and re-submit, their plans.
Because of DEP regulations, he said, no houses can built because the agency won't approve Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDU) for residential use.
"You can't have your American Dream" of building your own house, Cummins said.
EDUs are available for commercial development and have been approved for the Hooker-Fulton Building and the former Micale Construction site.
Turning to federal stimulus money, Riel and Cummins did agree that neither the city nor the township is benefiting from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Riel gave an example of a grant that was available for municipalities to hire extra police officers. The city had planned on applying for money to rehire Officer Mark Deluca, who was laid off because of the city's financial problems.
But the grant carries a stipulation: While the ARRA money would pay the officer's salary and benefits for three years, the city would have to pay for the fourth year of employment. And, even if another officer retired, the city would have to maintain the same number of officers, so they would have to hire someone else.
Riel also said that, early on, the city was led to believe money would be available to repave local roads.
"We were all gung-ho we were gong to that we were going to apply for some money," he said, but then they learned that the money wouldn't be going toward local roads after all.
"There are misconceptions with the stimulus money," he said, adding that people think McKean County is getting $18 million, but it's all going to projects that had already been approved.
"We're getting money," said County Commissioner Joe DeMott, "but it's all earmarked."
"It's not like the money trickles down to small communities," Riel said. "Very little is available to us locally that we can take advantage of without being committed to spending more money long-term."
Cummins agreed, saying, "We thought it was going to trickle down in short order for shovel ready projects. That hasn't happened."
"I don't think the amount of money that's available for everybody is enough to do anything," he said, noting that less than 5 percent is geared toward infrastructure projects.
"As we are most of the time," he said, "we're on our own."
As for the state's $18 billion in ARRA money, State Representative Marty Causer said lawmakers are "still evaluating what strings are attached."
He said education is a huge part of where the money will go and the debate over that is contentious. He said they are concerned about how to plug that money into the current formula because there's a clause that says once they give out a certain amount of money, they can't cut back on it the next year. They have to give at least the same amount so, after the stimulus money is gone in two years, lawmakers would have to find another funding source to plug the hole.
Before turning to representatives for Senator Bob Casey and Congressman Glenn Thompson, moderator Rick Benton said there seemed to be universal agreement that there's not very much stimulus money and there are all kinds of strings and red tape?
"What can you do to help us?" he asked Thompson's representative Peter Winkler.
"Nuthin," Winkler said, adding that Thompson voted against the ARRA.
But he, along with Casey's representative Kyle Hannon, did say their offices would be glad to help with the application process.
Concerning education, DeMott said the North Central Regional Planning and Development Commission is trying to bring the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Institute to Ridgway.
He said the PMI training program is geared toward industries and run by industrialists, and he has "high hopes we will be meeting that goal soon."
DeMott also talked about the Educational Consortia of the Upper Allegheny that is trying to improve higher education in the 11-county region.
He said they're "trying to coordinate educational opportunities for people here, in part, by increasing the availability of community college courses that may be taught in existing facilities – in our high schools and vo-tech schools and working with universities in our area."
Turning to the state budget, Causer talked about Governor Ed Rendell's proposal to impose a severance tax on Marcellus Shale drillers.
"Energy is the one bright spot we have in the region with the real potential to put a lot of people to work," he said. "Any other industry or any other proposal in our area that would put that many people to work – state government would be running out with cardboard checks and tax abatements and incentives to get this going. Instead, the first thing that happened is the governor … said he wants to place a new tax on the industry. That's the wrong approach."
When asked about cuts to certain programs – some that could be eliminated – including the PA Council on the Arts, the Main Street program and Elm Street program, Larry Persing, representing Senator Joe Scarnati, reiterated that it's a tough budget year.
"Those who were only cut 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 percent … perhaps can thank their lucky stars," he said.
WESB/WBRR News Director
Federal stimulus money, the intermunicipal sewer agreement and education were among the issues tackled by lawmakers Friday at the second annual Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Luncheon.
As for the sewer agreement, Mayor Tom Riel said it's "finally being moved along – albeit because we were basically under the gun by the DEP that we had to do something or face some very large monetary penalties."
"Unfortunately, it's going to cost a lot of money and everybody's going to have to foot the bill in some manner," he said. "Hopefully it won't be as bad as we thought it would be originally."
But Bradford Township Supervisor Don Cummins said his board isn't ready to sign the agreement until language that could mean as much as a 70 percent increase in sewer rates is changed.
He also said "DEP has held the Tuna Valley hostage for two years" by making the municipalities submit, and re-submit, their plans.
Because of DEP regulations, he said, no houses can built because the agency won't approve Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDU) for residential use.
"You can't have your American Dream" of building your own house, Cummins said.
EDUs are available for commercial development and have been approved for the Hooker-Fulton Building and the former Micale Construction site.
Turning to federal stimulus money, Riel and Cummins did agree that neither the city nor the township is benefiting from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Riel gave an example of a grant that was available for municipalities to hire extra police officers. The city had planned on applying for money to rehire Officer Mark Deluca, who was laid off because of the city's financial problems.
But the grant carries a stipulation: While the ARRA money would pay the officer's salary and benefits for three years, the city would have to pay for the fourth year of employment. And, even if another officer retired, the city would have to maintain the same number of officers, so they would have to hire someone else.
Riel also said that, early on, the city was led to believe money would be available to repave local roads.
"We were all gung-ho we were gong to that we were going to apply for some money," he said, but then they learned that the money wouldn't be going toward local roads after all.
"There are misconceptions with the stimulus money," he said, adding that people think McKean County is getting $18 million, but it's all going to projects that had already been approved.
"We're getting money," said County Commissioner Joe DeMott, "but it's all earmarked."
"It's not like the money trickles down to small communities," Riel said. "Very little is available to us locally that we can take advantage of without being committed to spending more money long-term."
Cummins agreed, saying, "We thought it was going to trickle down in short order for shovel ready projects. That hasn't happened."
"I don't think the amount of money that's available for everybody is enough to do anything," he said, noting that less than 5 percent is geared toward infrastructure projects.
"As we are most of the time," he said, "we're on our own."
As for the state's $18 billion in ARRA money, State Representative Marty Causer said lawmakers are "still evaluating what strings are attached."
He said education is a huge part of where the money will go and the debate over that is contentious. He said they are concerned about how to plug that money into the current formula because there's a clause that says once they give out a certain amount of money, they can't cut back on it the next year. They have to give at least the same amount so, after the stimulus money is gone in two years, lawmakers would have to find another funding source to plug the hole.
Before turning to representatives for Senator Bob Casey and Congressman Glenn Thompson, moderator Rick Benton said there seemed to be universal agreement that there's not very much stimulus money and there are all kinds of strings and red tape?
"What can you do to help us?" he asked Thompson's representative Peter Winkler.
"Nuthin," Winkler said, adding that Thompson voted against the ARRA.
But he, along with Casey's representative Kyle Hannon, did say their offices would be glad to help with the application process.
Concerning education, DeMott said the North Central Regional Planning and Development Commission is trying to bring the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Institute to Ridgway.
He said the PMI training program is geared toward industries and run by industrialists, and he has "high hopes we will be meeting that goal soon."
DeMott also talked about the Educational Consortia of the Upper Allegheny that is trying to improve higher education in the 11-county region.
He said they're "trying to coordinate educational opportunities for people here, in part, by increasing the availability of community college courses that may be taught in existing facilities – in our high schools and vo-tech schools and working with universities in our area."
Turning to the state budget, Causer talked about Governor Ed Rendell's proposal to impose a severance tax on Marcellus Shale drillers.
"Energy is the one bright spot we have in the region with the real potential to put a lot of people to work," he said. "Any other industry or any other proposal in our area that would put that many people to work – state government would be running out with cardboard checks and tax abatements and incentives to get this going. Instead, the first thing that happened is the governor … said he wants to place a new tax on the industry. That's the wrong approach."
When asked about cuts to certain programs – some that could be eliminated – including the PA Council on the Arts, the Main Street program and Elm Street program, Larry Persing, representing Senator Joe Scarnati, reiterated that it's a tough budget year.
"Those who were only cut 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 percent … perhaps can thank their lucky stars," he said.
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