Harrisburg ends hiring freeze, looks to rehire lobbyists

View of Harrisburg

View of Harrisburg, and the state capitol, from the river.

Five months after Mayor Eric Papenfuse declared a fiscal crisis and announced hiring freeze to deal with the potential loss of $12 million annually, the city is now hiring again.

The city wants to fill 14 positions that had been frozen this year, including the city arborist and a second deputy fire chief position that was added to the budget but never filled.

The city already has posted job descriptions seeking applications for six positions, including a park ranger, deputy planning director, assistant city solicitor. police data technician, historic preservation specialist archivist and confidential secretary to the business administrator. The six positions carry combined annual salaries of about $278,000.

The city is able to fill these positions now, the mayor said, after the Legislature and governor agreed to allow the city to keep its current taxing authority for five years even as the city exits the state’s financial recovery program known as Act 47.

The recent action by the Legislature allows the city to keep a two-percent earned income tax levied on city residents (when state law caps the level at one percent) and a tripled local services tax, which costs everyone who works in the city $156 annually. (Those workers would normally pay $52 annually if the city didn’t have special authority.)

Without the legislative intervention, the city would have had to continue with the hiring freeze, cut other positions and sharply increase already-high property tax rates.

The city is expected to officially exit Act 47 early next year after the formation of an Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority to oversee the city’s finances. Legislative leaders will appoint five members, who live or work in the city, to serve in a voluntary capacity on the ICA board. The board will supervise an executive director, whose salary will be paid by the state.

The creation of the ICA was a condition that legislators wanted in exchange for allowing the city to continue with enhanced tax rates beyond state caps.

The city was able to work with legislators to achieve the bipartisan measure mostly through the help of a lobbying firm the city hired at an annual cost of $60,000, Papenfuse said. The mayor would like to see that contract for Maverick Strategies continue in next year’s budget, and a resolution to that effect will be introduced at tonight’s city council meeting. It likely will be referred to a committee for further discussion before a full vote.

“I think they’ve done a great job,” Papenfuse said of Maverick Strategies. “They facilitated scores of meetings with individual legislators... We’ve built a lot of bridges and we don’t want to see all that end.”

Going forward, city officials have said they want to join forces with other cities looking for long-term changes to the state’s antiquated tax laws.

City council members tonight also will receive a new proposed collective bargaining agreement with city workers covered by Local 521, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, also known as AFSCME.

The contract represents a two-year extension of the current contract, which provides for a 1-percent annual raise and a $1,000 bonus for each employee at the time the contract is ratified.

The contract also includes an enticement for early retirement, allowing employees to retire with full benefits if their age plus years of service equals 80.

In other business, resolutions are expected to be introduced tonight that would appoint two people who applied unsuccessfully for a recent open council seat to the city’s zoning hearing board.

They are: Aaron Holt, an attorney, who would serve on the volunteer board, and Josiah Yonker, an insurance account manager. who would serve as an alternate member of the board that hears requests for zoning variances.

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