Tag Archives: Home Rule

Harrisburg readies 5-year financial plan in critical step to exit Act 47

May 7, 2019 | by Lawrance Binda

Harrisburg City Council chambers on Tuesday night

Harrisburg officials tonight dug into the details of a proposed, five-year financial plan for the city, a critical step to fulfill a state mandate and ultimately exit Act 47.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse made a presentation of what he called a “responsible” long-range budget, which assumes “no significant growth” in the city’s tax base, yielding a flat operating budget of about $64 million through 2023.

“This is, in my opinion, a fiscally responsible plan,” he said. “It doesn’t call for the raising of taxes.”

The commonwealth required Harrisburg to draft a five-year financial plan as part of legislation passed last year that allowed the city to retain its elevated local services and earned income tax rates for another five years.

That plan must be approved by the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (ICA), the state-created body tasked with overseeing the city’s financial recovery.

After the budget plan passes muster, both the ICA and City Council must approve an Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement. Papenfuse said that he hoped that step would occur by early July, before council takes its traditional six-week summer recess.

At that point, the city would be able to exit Act 47, the state’s program for financially distressed municipalities, Papenfuse said. The city has been in the program since 2010.

While revenues are assumed to remain mostly flat over the five-year period, expenses are expected to increase by several million dollars per year, with the gap made up by tapping the city’s substantial fund balance.

Over the next five years, the fund balance is projected to decrease from the current $21 million to about $3.3 million, leveling out at about 5 percent of the operating budget, which, according to Papenfuse, is the city’s target level.

In recent years, the city has built up a large fund balance mostly by under-spending its budget over successive years.

Councilman Ben Allatt said he was concerned about reducing the fund balance so greatly, considering that the city may well lose its enhanced taxing authority after the five-year period.

“I am concerned about going down to 5 percent, losing sources of revenue, then worrying about the scenarios that we can’t see right now,” he said.

Papenfuse responded that he expected that the city would continue to under-spend its budget, meaning that the fund balance may be higher. In addition, the five-year plan, he said, is a “living document” that will be amended annually.

“When all is said and done, the plan will change a lot from year to year,” he said.

In addition to the annual operating budget, the five-year plan also addressed the city’s capital improvement needs.

The plan divided capital projects into several buckets: critical projects that must be funded, less critical projects and lower-priority projects.

To that end, over the next five years, the city expects to spend $7.8 million on what it deems its most critical capital needs, which includes upgrades to 2^nd Street, IT hardware and software, police patrol vehicles, police body cameras, fire apparatus and vehicles for public works.

Another 50 projects, costing some $8.4 million, are seen as important, but less critical. They include many park projects. Park projects also take up much of the third-tier priority list.

The administration also addressed the issue of what might happen after the five-year plan period expires in 2023.

Papenfuse said that, ideally, the legislature would agree to allow Harrisburg to continue to levy its higher taxation levels, revenue that makes up about 18 percent of the city’s operating budget.

However, if that doesn’t happen, the city should consider a Home Rule charter, which would free it from the strictures of the state’s third-class city code, he said. Harrisburg, then, would be able to recoup much of that lost revenue by retaining its current 2-percent earned income tax rate.

“I’m not here to debate Home Rule now,” he said. “But it is something we should debate as a city.”

In the end, the city needs to emerge from the five-year period with enough revenue to operate and, ultimately, have its credit rating restored, he said.

“The reality is that the city cannot survive without the taxing authority we currently have,” he said.

The city’s baseline financial forecast through 2023, as currently drafted

TheBurg Podcast: “The Show Goes On” Edition.

September 14, 2018 | by TheBurg Staff

TheBurg Podcast is back following a summer hiatus.

This week, we recap the latest developments in Harrisburg’s Act 47 saga, including an effort to lobby the state legislature and the impending deadline to adopt a state-approved Act 47 exit plan. We also discuss HMAC’s recent bankruptcy filing and what the business means to midtown Harrisburg.

Stream the episode here, or subscribe to TheBurg Podcast on iTunes.

Read more about the topics covered in today’s Burg Podcast at TheBurgNews.com.

City Council to consider home rule ordinance as Act 47 deadline nears.

Papenfuse eyes three-year commuter tax as Harrisburg prepares for Act 47 exit.

Following online outrage and revenue hit, HMAC files chapter 11 bankruptcy as a prelude to sale

State grant earmarked for HMAC could be jeopardized by bankruptcy filing, CREDC president says.

TheBurg Podcast is released semi-monthly by TheBurg Magazine. It is recorded in the offices of Startup Harrisburg and produced by Lizzy Hardison. Special thanks to Paul Coolley, who wrote our theme music.

City Council to consider home rule ordinance as Act 47 deadline nears.

September 10, 2018 | by Lizzy Hardison

Is Harrisburg on its way to home rule?

Tomorrow night, City Council will consider an ordinance to initiate home rule proceedings, kicking off what could be a years-long process to write a new charter for the city.

The ordinance will be read into the record for the first time at council’s Sept. 11 legislative session. From there, it will likely go into administrative committee.

If it passes, Harrisburg residents will be asked to vote on whether or not the city should form a Government Study Commission – an elected body of citizens that will study forms of local government and decide whether or not a home rule charter is advisable for the city.

The members of the commission would also draft Harrisburg’s home rule charter and put it up for another referendum vote.

In Pennsylvania, a municipality may pursue home rule to gain autonomy from the state charter, which prescribes tax rates and government structures for cities, boroughs and townships. A home rule municipality can convene its own government structure or authorize tax limits beyond what is allowed under state code.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse told TheBurg in July that he wanted to explore home rule as a way to ease Harrisburg’s exit from Act 47, a state oversight program for financially distressed municipalities.

A home rule charter would allow Harrisburg to keep its earned income tax (EIT) at its current 2 percent rate. The state tax code only allows Harrisburg to assess a 1 percent EIT, but Act 47 law allowed City Council to double the rate in 2012.

But home rule charters must be passed by the municipality’s residents in a referendum vote, and Papenfuse isn’t optimistic that it would get enough support in Harrisburg.

“It’s not a foregone conclusion that it would be successful,” Papenfuse said on Monday. “Home rule is something I’ve supported for Harrisburg for a long time, though I know it would be very difficult to achieve.”

Papenfuse still hopes that the city will be allowed to exit Act 47 this year, pending the passage of a bill by the PA General Assembly. That bill would allow Harrisburg to keep its current EIT and local services tax (LST) indefinitely.

The taxes generate a combined $12 million in annual revenue for Harrisburg. Both would revert to their pre-Act 47 levels if the city exited the program under the current state tax code.

That prospect has forced city officials in recent months to devise strategies to avoid a gigantic revenue loss and budget cuts when the city is forced to leave Act 47 in 2021. The city has been lobbying the state legislature for special taxing privileges since January, when it retained the services of local lobbying firm Maverick Strategies.

A measure to preserve Harrisburg’s taxing power blew up in June, after House Speaker Mike Turzai prevented the measure from coming up for a vote.

If the legislature fails to act on Harrisburg’s behalf again this fall, the city will adopt a three-year Act 47 exit plan.

The details of that plan are still subject to revision by the state Department of Community and Economic Development, but the latest draft calls for substantial property tax increases in 2021 to offset EIT and LST reductions.

Papenfuse hasn’t given up on the possibility of passing a heftier commuter tax as part of the city’s Act 47 exit plan. He and his counterparts on City Council have repeatedly said they will oppose a plan that increases taxes on Harrisburg residents.

The mayor expects that home rule proceedings could take at least three years, giving the city “just barely enough time” to complete it before exiting Act 47. But even if the city does pass its own unique charter, it would still have to find new sources of revenue.

A home rule charter would not allow Harrisburg to keep its current LST rate, since such charters only apply to residents of the home rule municipalities. The LST is paid by every employee in the city of Harrisburg, including commuters.

That tax brings in $6 million a year, according to Harrisburg finance director Bruce Weber. About $4 million goes to the city and the remainder to the Harrisburg School District.

There are currently 71 home rule municipalities in Pennsylvania, the closest being Carlisle in Cumberland County. Harrisburg would be the first home rule municipality in Dauphin County if its charter passes.

Have questions about Harrisburg’s Act 47 status? Check out TheBurg’s guide to Act 47.

Going Home: Harrisburg has a unique opportunity to chart its own course.

September 29, 2017 | by Lawrance Binda

How many terms should a Harrisburg mayor serve?

Council President Wanda Williams believes that the city would be better off if the mayor could only serve two terms. She has a point.

As the old saying goes, “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and a person who serves term after term after term in a powerful position like the mayor of Harrisburg is bound to accumulate tremendous power.

Of course, city residents don’t have to look back too far to find an example. Former Mayor Steve Reed, in office for 28 years, took Harrisburg’s “strong mayor” form of government to the literal extreme, consolidating power to such an extent that few checks and balances remained to stop his most reckless actions, which plunged the city into a profound financial crisis.

According to Williams, her legislation would prevent a recurrence, and the ordinance language, which cites Reed’s tenure, makes it clear that Harrisburg’s past continues to weigh heavily on its present.

Current Mayor Eric Papenfuse, who stands for election next month for a second term, partly agrees with Williams. He does not oppose term limits, he said, as long they also apply to council.

But, to the mayor, debating term limits is a bit like dousing a raging house fire with a garden hose. It might help a little, but, in the end, your house still burns down.

Therefore, says Papenfuse, the city should address term limits, but in the context of a Home Rule charter, a way to fix the many problems that have seeped into the governing system over the years.

Papenfuse’s primary aim is to retain the city’s extra taxing authority once, a few years hence, it is forced out of Act 47, a state program for financially distressed municipalities. But, along the way, other tweaks could be made.

And that’s exactly what concerns Williams.

If Harrisburg goes the Home Rule route, almost everything is on the table. The charter commission, for instance, could decide to strip power away from a future mayor or even a council president. Harrisburg might end up being run by a city manager—i.e., someone not “from here.” Then who knows what horrible things could happen?

However, as they say, all that is commentary. Most importantly, Home Rule would allow the city to retain increases in its earned income tax and local services tax (LST), which acts as a form of commuter tax. Does it really matter if Harrisburg has a council/mayor or council/manager form of government if it can’t afford to pick up its trash or police its streets? Are you ready to defend your strong mayor at the cost of skyrocketing property taxes or a return to state receivership?

Philosophically, what I most like about Home Rule is that it gives Harrisburg a chance to take charge of its own destiny. Freed from many of the structural requirements imposed by the legislature, the people can decide for themselves what works best for their city.

In my opinion, that’s a far better option that the current plan of hiring a lobbyist to beg the commonwealth for more money or to maintain the LST. First of all, the cash-strapped, GOP-controlled legislature is unlikely to comply with the Democratic city’s wishes. But, secondly, supplication only deepens residents’ dependence on a dysfunctional, fickle and politically motivated state government—the exact opposite of what needs to happen.

Home Rule also gives the city a chance to reboot. A system of government is a bit like a piece of complex software. Over time, small errors are introduced and imperfections accumulate. The governing system may even become outdated and obsolete. Over decades, as times change, it may need to be rethought and replaced.

So, yes, Home Rule offers Harrisburg an opportunity to remain fiscally sound, to maintain the remarkable progress it’s made in recent years to balance its books and provide services to its people. But it also gives the city an opportunity to sit back, think about what has worked and what hasn’t worked and make corrections.

Therefore, term limits could be on the table, as Williams wants, but so could the way Harrisburg elects council members or collects its taxes or drafts its budget or involves its citizens, among dozens of other things. If the city does decide to go the Home Rule route, it would have plenty of company, as voters in more than 70 municipalities statewide have approved Home Rule charters.

In this space, I don’t typically advocate as much as describe and critique. However, more than a year has been lost since the idea of Home Rule was first suggested. Time now is running short before Harrisburg is booted out of Act 47, losing the extra taxing authority that comes with the designation.

But, besides that, Home Rule is a once-in-lifetime chance to decide for ourselves what we want to be, how we want to govern ourselves. The strong-mayor form of government, creaky at nearly five decades old, hasn’t worked too well for us. So, now, we have a chance to decide what might.

Lawrance Binda is editor in chief of TheBurg.

TheBurg Podcast, March 25, 2016

March 25, 2016 | by Admin

Welcome to TheBurg Podcast, a weekly roundup of news in and around Harrisburg.

To listen to this week’s episode, click here.

March 25, 2016: This week, Larry and Paul talk about a $9 million conservation proposal involving the forested watershed that supplies Harrisburg’s drinking water. They also discuss City Council’s after-session discussion of a home rule charter plan the members aren’t quite warming up to. Plus, the Bernie Sanders campaign arrives in Midtown, and Larry appears in a WITF interview.

TheBurg Podcast is proudly sponsored by Ad Lib Craft Kitchen & Bar at the Hilton Harrisburg.

Special thanks to Paul Cooley, who wrote our theme music. Check out his podcast, the PRC Show, on SoundCloud or in the iTunes store. You can also subscribe to TheBurg podcast in iTunes.

September News Digest

September 30, 2015 | by Lawrance Binda

Tax Hike Suggested

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse last month proposed tripling the local services tax to help close an estimated $6 million budget gap for the year.

Papenfuse introduced the idea during the annual State of the City address, saying that the Harrisburg Strong financial recovery plan needed to be amended because some revenues, including parking revenues due to enforcement snags, have fallen short of projections.

Under this plan, the local services tax would increase from $1 to $3 per worker per week. The increase would generate about $4 million a year, according to the administration.

The increase must be passed by City Council and approved by the Commonwealth Court. Papenfuse later said that Fred Reddig, a state official and the city’s Act 47 coordinator, supports the idea.

During his speech, Papenfuse also urged Harrisburg-based businesses to help the city financially by ceasing to use private haulers for trash collection. In addition, he floated the idea that the city should consider Home Rule, which would allow it to have greater control in its own affairs.

Papenfuse said that Home Rule was the “only real way out” of Act 47 financial oversight. Many municipalities in Pennsylvania, including Carlisle, have Home Rule charters, but achieving Home Rule would take years.

Reed to Stand Trial

The criminal case against former Harrisburg Mayor Steve Reed will go to trial, a judge determined last month.

Following a daylong preliminary hearing, Senior Magisterial District Judge Richard Cashman said the state could proceed with a case against Reed on all 485 counts against him, covering a wide range of alleged corruption.

At the hearing, the prosecution presented evidence that Reed had violated numerous laws, including that he had kept in his possession hundreds of artifacts purchased with city money. Reed allegedly bought the artifacts for several museums that he had proposed building in the city.

The defense team, led by Henry Hockheimer of the Philadelphia-based firm of Ballard Spahr, refuted those charges, stating that the property rightfully belonged to Reed.

Separately, Reed’s attorneys last month filed a motion asking the court to dismiss more than 300 counts against him, claiming they were not valid because the statute of limitations had expired.

Sinkhole Application Favored

The state has ranked Harrisburg first in Pennsylvania to receive federal sinkhole mitigation funds, the city learned last month.

The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency sent a letter to Harrisburg saying its application for a federal Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant for sinkhole remediation had been ranked No. 1 in the state.

The city is seeking grants for sinkhole repair and home demolition and buyouts in a hard-hit area of S. 14^th Street.

The state support, while positive, does not guarantee that Harrisburg will receive the award, said Mayor Eric Papenfuse. Only state emergency management agencies are eligible to apply for grants under the program, but awards are not allocated on a state-by-state basis.

LED Project Gets Green Light

Harrisburg’s plan to upgrade all of its streetlights with long-lasting LED lights is set to begin this month after the City Council approved funding for the project.

Council last month voted unanimously to borrow $3.2 million from M&T Bank for the LED conversion project, the city’s first major borrowing since the financial crisis shut it off from the credit markets. Council then voted unanimously to contract with The Efficiency Network, based in Pittsburgh, to perform the citywide installation of about 6,000 lights.

The administration estimates that the upgrade will save the city about $500,000 annually in energy costs, which should cover the cost of the financing. As part of its contract, The Efficiency Network guarantees the savings for a 10-year period.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said much of the work would be done this fall, but probably would not be completed until early next year.

Council also authorized the administration to apply for a $3.6 million grant from Impact Harrisburg, a nonprofit set up as part of the city’s financial recovery plan to assist its infrastructure and economic development efforts. Impact Harrisburg is in the process of hiring an executive director, which it must do before considering applications for grants.

If Harrisburg receives the money, the city would pay off the loan early and use the savings from reduced energy costs for other purposes, Papenfuse said. The loan carries a prepayment penalty of 3 percent.

The city already has received a grant of $500,000 to offset some of the cost of the LED project.

Campbell Gets Probation

Former Harrisburg Treasurer John Campbell last month was sentenced to three years of probation for stealing money from three nonprofit organizations.

As part of his sentence, Campbell turned over a restitution check for $26,230, which will repay Historic Harrisburg Association, the Capital Region Stonewall Democrats and Lighten Up Harrisburg for the thefts.

In all, Campbell pled guilty to one misdemeanor and two felony counts.

Campbell was executive director of Historic Harrisburg and a volunteer treasurer for both Lighten Up Harrisburg and the Stonewall Democrats when the thefts occurred. He was not charged with any crimes in his capacity as city treasurer.

Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Scott A. Evans is allowing Campbell to serve his probation in the Washington, D.C., area, where he now lives.

Bar Loses Appeal

A Midtown Harrisburg bar targeted for closure by the city has lost its appeal, and now has taken its case to court.

The city’s License and Tax Appeal Review Board rejected the effort by the Third Street Café (formerly Club 1400) to retain its business license and continue operating from its building at the corner of N. 3rd and Calder streets.

The three-person appeals board unanimously sided with the city, which alleges that the bar attracts criminal behavior, especially drug activity.

“The owners and operators of the Third Street Café consented to or allowed behavior on and around the premises that constituted crimes under federal, state and local laws,” concluded the board in its Aug. 28 decision.

The city has tried for months to revoke the bar’s business license. In late March, it sent owner Tony Paliometros a letter stating it planned to revoke the license, giving him 30 days to cease operations. Paliometros appealed the revocation, and a one-day appeals hearing was held in late May.

After losing the appeal, Paliometros immediately appealed that decision to the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas and was granted a stay to remain open. The court appeal is scheduled for Oct. 9.

Housing Market Stable

Housing sales and prices were relatively stable in August, compared to the same period last year.

Throughout the region, 783 houses sold at a median sales price of $165,000, according to the Greater Harrisburg Association of Realtors. In August 2014, 781 houses sold for a median price of $165,000.

In Dauphin County, 265 houses sold at a median price of $144,900. In Cumberland County, 268 houses sold for a median price of $179,900 and, in Perry County, 27 houses sold for a median price of $165,000.

So Noted

The Harrisburg Downtown Improvement District and Recycle Bicycle last month launched a Downtown Bike Library, which allows people to borrow and then return a bike, a helmet and a lock at no cost from the HDID office at 22 N. 2^nd St. This program is considered a pilot program to the Bike Share Harrisburg initiative that is in the works to bring a bike share program to the city.

The Millworks last month started a lunch service, which begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday to Friday. The Midtown Harrisburg restaurant and art space opened in March for dinner, Tuesday through Sunday. It then added weekend brunch hours.

Bricco halted its lunch service last month in favor of expanding its catering business with Ciao! Bakery, in an endeavor now called Bricco-Ciao! Catering. The menu consists of both Ciao’s sandwiches and Bricco’s Mediterranean-inspired dishes. Bricco, at the corner of S. 3^rd and Chestnut streets, remains open for dinner.

The Kitchen at H*MAC last month announced new lunch and brunch hours. The restaurant, located at 1110 N. 3^rd St., Harrisburg, now is open for lunch on Monday to Friday beginning at 11 a.m. and for brunch on Saturday and Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.

Arepa City, which specialized in the Venezuelan sandwich called the arepa, closed last month after more than six years in downtown Harrisburg. Owner Daniel Farias said customers didn’t follow the restaurant after it moved into larger space further down N. 2^nd Street. Farias said he plans to continue his catering business.

Frederic Loraschi Chocolate opened a retail location and production facility at 4615 Hillcrest St. in Colonial Park. For years, the chocolatier has made his high-end confections from a converted kitchen in the basement of his Hummelstown home. The new shop allows consumers to buy directly from him.

Changing Hands

Berryhill St., 2101: R. Pickles to D. Maxwell, $96,500

Calder St., 116: M. DePhilip to D. Goldman, $150,000

Chestnut St., 2100: W. & K. Richards to H. Trauffer, $65,000

Curtin St., 543, 2135 N. 4^th St., 1949 Berryhill St., 545 Benton St. & 2314 N. 4^th St.: Susquehanna Bank to MBHH RE LLC, $107,000

Graham St., 118: B. & K. Elgart & Cartus Financial Corp. to P. Furlong, $219,900

Green St., 1924: D. Miller & R. Finley to G. O’Loughlin, $214,900

Hale Ave., 428: Metro Bank to T. & K. Vu, $42,500

Herr St., 409: W. & F. Moore to D. Jordan, $106,000

Industrial Rd., 3360: Conewago Contractors Inc. to Norfolk Southern Railway Co., $7,500,000

Kelker St., 319: K. Hancock to J. Marks, $60,000

N. 2^nd St., 1311: J. Feldman to T. Gray, $78,700

N. 2^nd St., 1406: F. Magaro to C. Albers, $149,000

N. 2^nd St., 1520: E. Spaar to N. & R. Masterson, $94,000

N. 2^nd St., 1708: D. Shreve to J. Seigle, $171,300

N. 2^nd St., 1829: E. Stuckey to M. Nolt, $126,000

N. 2^nd St., 3206: R. & P. Kotz to S. Margut, $178,000

N. 3^rd St., 1606: Fannie Mae to Anselmo Brothers Partnership, $52,500

N. 3^rd St., 2243: Kusic Financial Services LLC to A. & M. Collins, $58,000

N. Front St., 2609: Supreme Forest of Tall Cedars to A. Hartzler, $225,000

Penn St., 1820: Bayview Loan Servicing LLC to PA Deals LLC, $50,250

Penn St., 1917: S. Stauffer to S. Cline & J. Lemon, $118,500

Penn St., 1920: WCI Partners LP to C. Clabaugh, $159,900

Rudy Rd., 2141: A. McKenna to M. McNelis, $142,900

Rumson Dr., 2586: Beneficial Consumer Discount Co. to PA Deals LLC, $43,299

Schuykill St., 518 & 522: M. & A. Parsons to J. & B. Readinger, $37,500

S. 15^th St., 347, 1529 Catherine St., 1615 Naudain St., 30 Balm St., 1822 Park St. & 22 Balm St.: I. Colon to C. Harp, $30,000

S. Front St., 555: Ashbury Foundation to D. Ogg, $82,500

State St., 115: Pennsylvania Bar Association to Commonwealth Strategic Solutions LLC, $172,000

State St., 231, Unit 504: LUX 1 LP to M. & K. Lastrina, $144,900

State St., 231, Unit 505: LUX 1 LP to M & K. Lastrina, $154,900

State St., 1336: D. Pinnock to D. Vining, $37,000

Susquehanna St., 1833: G. & K. Ender to J. Secrest, $42,500

Swatara St., 2416: M. Gaston et al to D. & E. Davenport, $129,600

Thompson St., 1257: Jamil Karim LLC to Harrisburg Housing Authority, $80,000

Woodbine St., 502: K. Bethea to C. Guerrier, $40,000

Harrisburg property sales for August 2015, greater than $30,000. Source: Dauphin County. Data is assumed to be accurate.

Home Remedy

September 11, 2015 | by Paul Barker

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse.

The new HBO miniseries “Show Me A Hero,” David Simon’s take on a desegregation battle that roiled the city of Yonkers, N.Y., in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, is full of scenes that squeeze high drama out of the most tedious of municipal exercises. Roll call votes are cast before crowds of screaming protestors. A councilman, running to unseat the incumbent mayor, asks to use a city hall photocopier and is told stonily—faint hearts, plug your ears—it’s “gonna be a while.” In the fourth episode, the city manager hands a brown paper package to the outgoing mayor, Nick Wasicsko. Inside is neither money nor drugs but, rather, a framed copy of a recent amendment to the Yonkers charter. “You really fucking shouldn’t have,” Wasicsko says, as he tears the package open. The city manager, not to be out-cussed, replies, “Because of you, this place won’t be half as fucked up as it is now.”

Is there anything more boring than a local government charter? The things local governments do are often viscerally affecting—raising taxes, hiring and firing cops, bulldozing churches or, in Yonkers’ case, erecting public housing in middle-class neighborhoods. But charters concern what local governments are—whether they’re run by a manager or mayor, how many councilors oversee them, what day the budget is due. Even profanity can make them only so stimulating. The piece of the Yonkers charter that scored an HBO cameo eliminated the position of city manager and extended the mayor’s term from two to four years. Who fucking cares?

This week, at an annual “State of the City” address, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse did his best to spice up his own charter initiative. The proposal has to do with home rule, the designation for a local government that opts to replace the state’s cookie-cutter municipal code with a charter of its own crafting. To date, Pennsylvania has 72 such “home rule” municipalities, including large cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Allentown as well as Harrisburg-sized cities like Lancaster, York and Wilkes-Barre. A municipality seeking home rule must first elect a commission to study its form of government. State law is poetic about this commission’s duties; among other things, it is to determine whether the local government can be “made more clearly responsible or accountable to the people.” It should also ensure the “widest possible public information and discussion” about its work, though it has some latitude in deciding how to do that. The commission for Carlisle, whose voters approved a home rule charter just this past May, published a monthly newsletter.

Papenfuse gave his address in a ballroom at the Hilton hotel downtown to an audience largely composed of local business owners. How they reacted to his speech depended, in part, on how accustomed they were to his taste for citing American history. He opened with a story about a James Earl Jones speech on the U.S. Constitution and went on to describe a “prize-winning” essay he wrote in graduate school on the Anti-Federalists and the path to the Bill of Rights. One’s reaction also depended on one’s comfort with Papenfuse’s tendency to lob grenades. At one point, discussing businesses that don’t use the city’s sanitation services, he noted he was “sorry to say” they included the event’s host, the Harrisburg Regional Chamber. (“It’s up to my landlord,” Dave Black, the chamber president, told Papenfuse on the ballroom floor after the speech. “Not really, though,” Papenfuse replied.)

The Constitution reference set Papenfuse up for his speech’s central analogy. Like the country’s founding document, he said, the state’s financial recovery plan for Harrisburg—stay with me—was imperfect as originally passed, and needed to be amended. “I say to you this morning: now is the time for we the people to work in unison to amend the Harrisburg Strong Plan,” the mayor said. Specifically, he called for three adjustments. The first was to raise the so-called local services tax, a flat tax on employees making more than $12,000 per year, from $1 to $3 per week. The second, more vaguely, was to “continue to invest in and improve” sanitation services. The third was to shift the city to home rule.

At base, all three proposals are about money. The so-called Strong Plan contains several hundred pages of initiatives for improving Harrisburg government, yet the mayor’s objections centered on only two problems: income taxes and parking revenues. The original plan’s projections were off, Papenfuse said, and the city now expects to fall $6 million short of the hoped-for revenues in 2016. The local services tax would obviously address this—according to the mayor, the proposed hike would rake in an extra $4 million per year. Less obviously, expanding sanitation is about money, too. City trash bills, Papenfuse said, are the one source of revenues that are “out-performing expectations”; adding accounts will allow the city to hire more workers, who can in turn provide “much-needed neighborhood services” like filling potholes and trimming trees. (He also suggested the sanitation fund could provide low-interest loans to other parts of city government, though here he drifted into dangerous territory. The city is currently facing a lawsuit claiming its trash rates are excessively high, allegedly to help fund unrelated government functions.)

What about home rule? Papenfuse discussed the prospect only briefly in his speech, describing it as “Harrisburg’s only real way out” of the state’s program for financially distressed municipalities. Short of specific proposals, how a new charter might provide that exit is not exactly clear. David Greene, assistant director and legal counsel to the Pennsylvania Local Government Commission, said a home rule charter can provide the “broadest quantum of powers to the municipality” of any form of local government, including greater freedom to define and increase the local tax base. Under the state distress program, Harrisburg was permitted to increase the income tax on residents to 2 percent; a home rule charter could make the authority for that increase permanent, or potentially authorize further increases. There are, however, limits to such home-rule powers, including limits on the taxes imposed on nonresidents, which might pose a problem for the mayor’s proposed tripling of the local services tax once Harrisburg leaves state oversight.

If home rule appeals to Harrisburg, it may be for reasons of principle as much as for reasons of practicality. Papenfuse, introducing the concept in his speech, said it would “transfer basic authority back from the state” to the city. In the wake of financial disaster and aggressive state intervention, there is something romantic in the concept of Harrisburg voters going back to the drawing board to design a government structure that may better suit them. The city of Nanticoke, in Luzerne County, became a home rule city in 2013, and left the state distress program earlier this year. At the top of their new charter is a brief preamble: “The citizens of Nanticoke City,” it begins, “have the privilege, right and responsibility to participate in all aspects of City government and have come together with a desire and willingness to improve their government through the enactment of this charter.” It concludes with a pledge by “We, the people of Nanticoke City” to uphold its laws. Papenfuse is not the first to look at local government and think of the U.S. Constitution. You can see why someone might want a framed copy.

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