City Controller Ray Malinchak sends along his thoughts on recent comments made by an Almanac reader:
First, kindly do not attribute the shutting off the street lights statements to the city elders. Only one elder made the statement -- the city controller. Not one other elected official contributed to, or endorsed this (alleged insane) option (idea).
In addition, an alternate abhorrent option was offered to terminate staff and thereby reduce expenditures by $500,000. Please be advised that the city is self-insured and will have to reimburse the Commonwealth for all unemployment benefits. Also, the city is obligated to pay other termination benefits specified by collective bargaining agreements. Hence, it would take over a year for the city to realize any benefits from staff reductions.
I do not recall it being revealed that the controller responded to Mayor Brewster's delineation of $500,000 of unforeseen divergences. Mayor Brewster accurately described a list of unexpected and unbudgeted discrepancies totaling about $500,000. However it was not revealed that the controller indicated that a $1.25 million reserve (in CDs and interest bearing devices) is insufficient to retire a $1.5 million Tax Anticipation Loan due by year end. Therefore, the mayor has to discover another $250,000 to satisfy this additional deficit.
It is not over yet, next kindly move on to historical and consistent deficits each year since I have been controller (i.e., budget expenses that exceed revenues). These "customary" deficits are usually more than $600,000 each year as documented by the independent and publicly available annual audit reports. The controller projects more than a $600,000 deficit for this year.
Finally when you add up the above grief, it totals $1.35 million in contrast to the $500,000 deficit reported that was ascribed exclusively to unexpected and unbudgeted expenses.
Now back to insane ideas (options) to reconcile a projected $1.3 million deficit:
- increase the earned income tax back to 2 percent
- increase property tax by about 30 percent
- terminate a significant number of employees
- reduce all energy costs, liquidate about $2 million of assets (if the city has any liquid assets of that magnitude), or
- slither into the Act 47 "Municipalities Financial Recovery Act"?
None of the above is palatable -- even shutting off street lights. In conflict with reality, several public officials have vowed that they would never raise taxes or support Act 47 proceeding or reduce public services. Can one translate that into supporting mitigation of public illumination?
Act 47 lists ten separate entities that can request a determination of municipal financial distress from DCED Secretary Dennis Yablonsky. The first entity listed is the DCED itself and the last or 10th listed is the Chief Executive (i.e. mayor) of the municipality. Unfortunately and stealthily, the city has already satisfied one criterion for Act 47, e.g. a deficit for three consecutive years of more than 1 percent of the budget, excluding one-time revenues.
Mayor Brewster has preformed magnificently to date in keeping distant from drastic measures. Can this continue? Only time and the pending early intervention study by Delta Financial will determine the financial destiny of our beloved city.
"Don't obsess over what people think. No job is beneath you. Tell the truth." --- Randy Pausch, 1960-2008
If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what's an empty desk the sign of?
Here's some of the clutter on my desk, and on my mind:
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Knowing The Angles: A video on a website called "TeacherTube" spotlights Brian See, a math teacher at McKeesport Area High School.
See demonstrates how he teaches the Pythagorean theorem to his students:
TeacherTube, launched last year, allows elementary and high school instructors to upload instructional videos that demonstrate techniques they use to reach students. You can read more on the project's website.
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Diner Beware: For the first time in the 12 year history of Tube City Online, I've had to withdraw a restaurant review.
I'm doing it with great reluctance, because --- as I've pointed out before --- I am not an impartial reporter. I am very biased toward new businesses in the Mon-Yough area, and I want to see them succeed.
But I also try to be an honest broker of information. My very unscientific process of restaurant reviewing includes visiting once by myself, visiting again with friends, and talking to other people who've eaten there to get their impressions.
By the way, I pay for meals myself, which is not a big ordeal because I like to eat out, and besides, very few of the restaurants around the Mon Valley are what anyone would call "expensive."
Also, I'm not fooling myself into thinking that anyone cares what I think of their restaurant ... but I hold out some small hope that people using the Youghiogheny River bike trail or visiting relatives might appreciate a little bit of guidance.
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A Few Nice Words: Speaking of the bike trail, a recent visitor has a few nice words for Our Fair City.
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Department of Corrections: The Post-Gazette finally takes notice of the sale of the People's Building ... and gets the details wrong.
It wasn't Western Pennsylvania National Bank, for gawd's sake. It was People's Union Bank and Trust, a competing bank. WPNB was on the opposite corner.
Gee whiz, if you're going to rehash stories the Almanac had a month ago, at least copy the information correctly.
But I'm not going to be too harsh on the P-G, because the Daily News has repeatedly mixed up one of the details, too, saying that the People's Building once housed "a branch" of People's Union Bank and Trust.
Nope. The building was the headquarters of People's Union Bank. Yes, Virginia, it may be hard to believe, but McKeesport was once important enough to boast the headquarters of three fairly important banks --- People's, WPNB and McKeesport National.
Admittedly, People's and MNB were small by modern standards. Still, it chafes me to see these kinds of details botched. (I probably need more important things to worry about.)
People's disappeared in Union National Bank in roughly 1970; three years later, WPNB became Equibank, which is also now gone; and MNB merged into Three Rivers Bank, which is now part of Huntington Bank.
I'm allowed to criticize other writers, because as you know, I newver mak mistaeks.
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Save the Date: Kelly Stanczak of McKeesport Relay for Life writes to alert us of their next upcoming fundraiser, to be held Aug. 9 and 10 at McKeesport Area High School's Weigle-Schaeffer Memorial Stadium.
Registration costs $100 for eight to 15 people, and includes T-shirts and other materials. Participants take turns walking or running around the stadium track for 24 hours; between laps, they're invited to enjoy entertainment, food and games.
It's a nice, healthy outdoor activity that really doesn't cost much, and benefits cancer research and treatment that affects patients from the Mon-Yough area.
The Relay for Life is also selling luminaria in memory of people who died of cancer or in honor of cancer survivors; luminaria can be ordered in advance or purchased during the event. The suggested donation starts at $10.
Cancer survivors can also join the Relay for Life to participate in a "Celebration of Life Lap" on Aug. 9, followed by a free dinner in their honor.
The Relay for Life is open to the public at starts at 12 noon Aug. 9. Visit the website for local volunteers or call Denise Fry at (412) 919-1041.
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To Do This Weekend: McKeesport Recreation Committee is hosting two free concerts at Renzie Park this weekend. Tomorrow night, enjoy a performance by the U.S. Air Force Band; Sunday night, it's a "Beatles Tribute" by a group called "Come Together." Both concerts get underway at 7 p.m., and all seating is on the lawn in front of the bandshell, so bring a blanket or a folding chair. Visit the committee's website to see other events.
City officials are seeking new bids from garbage haulers in an effort to cut costs and save money.
A legal advertisement was placed in the Daily News this week seeking proposals, which could be voted on at the Sept. 3 city council meeting.
It's not a sign that the city is dissatisfied with Scottdale-based Greenridge Waste Services, its current collector, but it is a sign that an economy move is in full swing.
The Greenridge contract will automatically renew on Sept. 30 unless the city chooses to opt out.
McKeesport is staring at a half-million budget shortfall caused by several unexpected problems, including rapidly rising expenses for health care and fuel, and lost revenue from a proposed cell phone tower in the Seventh Ward that's yet to be built because of objections from nearby residents.
Mayor Jim Brewster says the city currently pays Greenridge about $1.2 million per year for trash collection. The price is guaranteed through 2009.
Last month, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl pitched his city's services --- including fire protection and trash collection --- to other municipalities in Allegheny County.
McKeesport City Administrator Dennis Pittman said the city would be interested in receiving a proposal for trash pickup from Pittsburgh, which already collects residential garbage in Wilkinsburg Borough.
The three-year agreement between Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh is saving the smaller community an estimated $1 million annually.
But Pittman says the city also expects to receive bids from more conventional, private-sector haulers, such as Waste Management.
And he and other city officials cautioned residents against assuming that a new hauler will be selected.
Small trash collection companies might not have the capability to collect from all of the city's nearly 10,000 households without adding equipment and personnel, they said, and there's some doubt that they could ramp up their capacity between September --- when a potential new contract would be awarded --- and Jan. 1 of next year.
On a related note, a study published Sunday in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review questions whether the deal between Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg is really providing any benefit.
Authored by Jake Haulk and Eric Montarti of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, the study suggests that city of Pittsburgh taxpayers are subsidizing the cost of trash collection in the neighboring borough.
While that city is charging Wilkinsburg $120 per household for residential waste pickup, Haulk and Montarti estimate the real cost to Pittsburgh is about $202 per household.
They argue that because of inefficiency and pension obligations, Pittsburgh's municipal trash collection services are more expensive than those a private hauler would provide.
Headquartered in Mt. Lebanon, the Allegheny Institute is a conservative/libertarian think tank funded in large part by grants from charities controlled by publisher and philanthropist Richard Mellon Scaife, owner of the Tribune-Review, Daily News, and scores of other weekly and daily newspapers around the Pittsburgh area.
I've tried a couple of times to write something about the slaying of Kia Johnson, and I just don't have the words.
In case you're out of town or don't follow the news, Johnson is the 18-year-old city resident who was murdered, apparently by someone who wanted to take the unborn baby from her uterus.
The baby survived; Johnson's remains were found on the floor of a Wilkinsburg apartment rented by the main suspect in her killing, Andrea Curry-Demus.
Her body was badly decomposed, and the medical examiner's office says they may not be able to determine an exact cause of death because of that.
Johnson's corpse was discovered after reporters covering the arrest of Curry-Demus visited the apartment, noticed the smell, and called the cops.
No, the neighbors didn't report it. Surely they heard Kia Johnson crying out in agony; if not, they had to have to realized from the odor that something was terribly wrong.
But they let her body lie there, face down, on the floor, rotting.
That's depraved enough --- and we haven't even gotten to the case that police are building against Curry-Demus, who's been charged with homicide and kidnapping in connection with Johnson's murder.
County police allege that Curry-Demus met Johnson, found out she was pregnant, lured her to her apartment, and cut the baby from her womb. Whether Johnson was dead before the child was removed is a thought too horrible to contemplate.
Curry-Demus' public defender calls it "a sad state of affairs." I realize he's her attorney, but that doesn't begin to describe this case.
Another attorney, who defended Curry-Demus 18 years ago when she stole another infant, told reporters that she wasn't in her right mind at the time.
Should I laugh or cry? No, she's clearly not in her right mind, and yet if Curry-Demus' lawyers are going to try for an insanity defense, they've got a "catch-22" situation --- you would clearly have to be crazy to do what she's accused of doing, but it was done with such cold-blooded ruthlessness that it's hard to argue that she's insane. If she did it, she seemed to be in control of herself at all times.
Personally, I'm not a big advocate for the death penalty --- I don't think it has any deterrent factor, and I think too many innocent people have been found recently on death row --- but if any case cried out for the suspect to be put to death, this one qualifies.
As for what the case says about modern society, well, society has always had depraved people, back to the day when Cain slew Abel.
The only consolation is that Kia Johnson is hopefully in a place without cruel, indifferent, horrible monsters, like the one who treated her with such brutality and disrespect.
And my fervent prayer for the child she never got to see is that he'll get a good upbringing from her family or from foster parents who love him.
They say that living well is the best revenge. I hope that Kia Johnson's little boy lives very well, and I hope her killer spends a long time in a very dark, cold place.
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Memorial contributions for Kia Johnson should be sent to PNC Bank, 560 Lysle Blvd., McKeesport 15132.
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