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Moosic location of ShopRite opens its doors in former Kmart

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Three city council members opposed to Mayor George Brown&rsquo;s proposed 2021 budget offered to meet him halfway to reach a compromise, but it was still too far of a leap for him.
				The sticking point has been the extra dollar a week residents would pay for higher sewer maintenance and recycling fees Brown maintained were necessary to raise $2 million in revenues to balance his $53.2 million general fund budget.
				Council members Tony Brooks, John Marconi and Beth Gilbert McBride cast &ldquo;No&rdquo; votes when presented the budget on Nov. 19. They&rsquo;ve since had input into the discussions with the administration to resolve the dispute and expressed surprise Thursday night there was not a reworked budget before them .
				&ldquo;To be honest with you we looked at every suggestion you had,&rdquo; Brown said.
				From wage freezes for unions to asking the non-profits to increase their Payment in lieu of Taxes contributions, Brown went through the options presented him and explained why a budget wasn&rsquo;t on the <a href="https://www.wilkes-barre.city/sites/g/files/vyhlif4086/f/agendas/12320agenda.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">agenda</a>.
				&ldquo;But the things that you&rsquo;re asking me to do I don&rsquo;t have the power to do,&rdquo; Brown said.
				To its credit, city council previously approved a financing arrangement that will improve the city&rsquo;s aggregate fund for its five pension plans and lower the annual contributions to them as early as next year, Brown noted.
				Brooks, Marconi and McBride have stood firm on limiting the fee increase and have been unwilling to agree to Brown&rsquo;s reductions of 90 and 85 cents a week.
				&ldquo;I cannot run the city on 50 cents a week,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;I understand you&rsquo;re willing to meet me halfway. Financially, I can&rsquo;t pay the bills,&rdquo; Brown said.
				Raising property taxes is not an option, leaving Brown to choose layoffs as the only way to balance the budget. Yet the three opponents to the budget and its supporters, councilmen Bill Barrett and Mike Belusko agreed they don&rsquo;t want to see layoffs and cuts in services.
				&ldquo;I was hopeful that we were able to get this budget in its current or reasonably close to its current form passed. The alternatives I&rsquo;m very apprehensive about,&rdquo; Barrett added.
				The city has sought help with its financial problems through an Act 47 distressed municipality declaration by the state in 2018 and it was pointed in that direction again, Barrett warned.
				&ldquo;I feel like we&rsquo;re heading right back there again, through no fault of anybody in this room. It&rsquo;s been a very difficult year. I don&rsquo;t anticipate it getting much easier any time in the immediate future,&rdquo; Barrett said.
				This year the city faces an estimated $4 million budget shortfall Brown attributed mainly to loss of revenues from the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. Council has been meeting in City Hall and restricting access to the public so as to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The meetings have been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTNfywQbmXk&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">streamed online</a> with the public commenting by phone and email.
				McBride expressed her disappointment that none of the union representatives have called in to the meetings so council can ask them questions. She agreed with Brown that he had no control on wage freezes.
				Her father was a union painter and more than once his union agreed to a pay freeze to save their jobs, McBride said. Her vote for any fee increase was contingent on the unions agreeing to significant concessions.
				&ldquo;That&rsquo;s one thing that&rsquo;s concerning to me. I think it&rsquo;s greedy, to be very frank, that they don&rsquo;t want to take any concessions, not even a pay freeze if it means saving their jobs and saving their coworkers jobs,&rdquo; McBride said.
				In response to calls critical of McBride and other council members taking health care benefits offered by the city in addition to their pay, she said she set a personal deadline of next March to introduce legislation on the matter.
				Apart from the budget, city council was unanimous in its approval of the three agenda items:
				&#8226; The creation of a new checking account with PNC Bank for the administration of all Health Department grants
				&#8226; The sale of a vacant lot at 219-223 E. Northampton St. for Lisette Navarro of Hazleton for the appraised price of $3,500.
				&#8226; The issuance of a $3 million Tax and Revenue Anticipation Note for 2021 to the lowest responsible bidder.

Wilkes-Barre budget kept off agenda, still the focus of city council’s meeting