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Lottery Summary for the week of Nov. 15

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Getting their game on at the Osterhout: National Gaming Day

<p>After triggering a possible government shutdown, Luzerne County Councilman Harry Haas said he&#8217;s &#8220;a little fearful of what&#8217;s going to happen.&#8221;</p><p>Someone less cool would likely be experiencing severe panic attacks about now.</p><p>What may happen is droves of county employees will be laid off, agencies that provide services to children, the elderly and the mentally impaired will be shuttered and the county will default on an $8.5 million debt repayment &#8212; all with serious consequences.</p><p>Haas surprisingly voted with the council minority Tuesday night to not borrow $20 million to tide the county over until the state budget impasse ends. When the state budget passes, the county is expected to receive $22 million.</p><p>While no one wants to see the county go deeper in debt, this seems to be an emergency. Several county council members complained county Administrator Robert Lawton didn&#8217;t give them a heads up the county was on the brink of a financial crisis.</p><p>Admitting they were clueless isn&#8217;t something to brag about. It never occurred to council members the five-month stalemate in Harrisburg might have a bit of an impact on the Keystone Kourthouse?</p><p>Where is Lawton, who sounded the alarm in a way when he recommended an 8-percent tax hike to make ends meet? It&#8217;s inexcusable that he&#8217;s gone AWOL. He didn&#8217;t attend the council meeting Tuesday and then couldn&#8217;t be reached later. The county&#8217;s first manager under Home Rule has taken a lot of abuse from some council members, so maybe it&#8217;s finally time for him to go. It&#8217;s apparent he wants out.</p><p>Haas said he wanted to send state Gov. Tom Wolf and state legislators a loud message. By doing so, he placed the county on a tightrope with no safety net in place. So did the minority council members he sided with &#8212; Edward Brominski, Eileen Sorokas, Kathy Dobash, Stephen A. Urban and Stephen J. Urban &#8212; who all voted against borrowing the money without offering a backup plan to keep county government from grinding to a halt.</p><p>To think, last year at this time all hell broke loose when county employees didn&#8217;t get their paychecks the day before Thanksgiving or the Friday after because the one employee authorized to transfer funds to the bank was on vacation, and no one thought to cover for him. The employee unjustly lost his job over that debacle because, hey, someone had to be the scapegoat.</p><p>Now one year later, there is only about $4 million remaining in the county&#8217;s general fund operating budget, according to Budget/Finance Division head Brian Swetz. He said there are three more payrolls to meet this year which total $8 million, health care and utility costs of $3.5 million and vendor payments of $4.5 million, the Times Leader reported.</p><p>County Human Services Division head David Schwille said the county is legally required to provide protective services for children and the elderly. With what? Could the county also be looking at a flurry of potential lawsuits, which would likely cost a lot more than interest on a short-term loan?</p><p>Stephen A. Urban urged everyone dissatisfied with the fallout, which includes most of us, to call state officials and complain. We will, after we first call you and your colleagues who voted against this emergency loan.</p><p>What makes Urban think the governor will listen to me or you when he thumbed his nose at U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta and state lawmakers who implored him to stop allowing Syrian refugees into Pennsylvania, at least for now, in the wake of last weekend&#8217;s terrorist attacks in Paris?</p><p>Wolf and our state representatives are grappling with what&#8217;s being called the &#8220;2 Billion Question,&#8221; or who should benefit most from the governor&#8217;s plan to raise the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7.25 percent. The tradeoff is to reduce property taxes.</p><p>Don&#8217;t hold your breath.</p><p>In a joint statement, predictably defending bigger government and higher taxes, Democratic state Reps. Mike Carroll, of Avoca, Eddie Day Pashinski, of Wilkes-Barre, and Gerald Mullery, of Newport Township, called the impasse &#8220;indefensible.&#8221; They said, &#8220;Rigid ideological positions must be surrendered in favor of reasonable solutions that include an acceptance of the need for additional revenue.&#8221;</p><p>While Harrisburg officials decide how to redistribute the wealth, a government shutdown looms in Luzerne County &#8212; all because six council members chose not to take out a loan with little thought to the ramifications of their votes.</p><p>Is it any wonder the county, the state and the nation are all in debt?</p><p>Agreeing that state officials are to blame, Councilman Rick Morelli, who did vote for the loan, said the council has an obligation &#8220;to move forward and keep lights on and keep agencies running.&#8221;</p><p>His colleague Tim McGinley said, despite the state budget stalemate, &#8220;If we don&#8217;t follow through, this will affect all our programs, all our employees, all the people we serve.&#8221;</p><p>At least Harry Haas, despite feeling &#8220;a little fearful,&#8221; told off the governor, saying the emergency &#8220;firmly belongs to Gov. Tom Wolf.&#8221;</p><p>As it does to Robert Lawton. And to county division heads. And to the Luzerne County Council.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Betty Roccograndi, a Wyoming Valley resident, is an award-winning journalist. Her &#8220;Zeroing In&#8221; column appears every Sunday in the Times Leader.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Zeroing In: Possible county shutdown is indeed an emergency