Some of the major players who oversaw Harrisburg's financial collapse were back in front of a Senate committee Tuesday answering questions about how this happened. It all goes back to financial deals to fix the incinerator after it was shut down about 10 years ago.
The purpose of these hearings is to find out how Harrisburg got into this financial mess, so new laws can be written to protect taxpayers in the future. But Tuesday at the hearing, the three members of the Senate Committee on Local Government seemed to be getting a little frustrated because they want to know who is to blame, who is at fault, and they are not getting the answers they want.
In hours of testimony nine witnesses took the stand, including Harrisburg Business Manager Robert Kroboth, former Mayor Stephen Reed adviser Andy Giorgione and Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste, who called this situation a catastrophic failure resulting from gross mismanagement.
From the testimony, the senators concluded that the financial deals that led to this financial disaster were wrought with conflict of interests. They talked about hidden money and payouts.
Senator John Blake said it was clear that the city used the financing of the incinerator to plug holes in the city's budget. But no one is taking the blame.
Elected leaders are blaming the professionals and the professionals are pointing fingers elsewhere. This frustration led Senator Mike Folmer to ask the obvious question.
“The who is, who was driving this train? Who's the final, I mean, who's in charge? Who's driving the train?” Folmer questioned.
Later on, it was pointed out that the mayor, county and authority board were driving the train. One point the senators made was that there were dozens of financial experts, lawyers and elected leaders involved in making these financial decisions and they find it hard to believe that no one had the sense to say all this borrowing was a bad idea and tried to stop it.
But again, a lot of money was paid out in fees to many people involved.
The purpose of these hearings is to find out how Harrisburg got into this financial mess, so new laws can be written to protect taxpayers in the future. But Tuesday at the hearing, the three members of the Senate Committee on Local Government seemed to be getting a little frustrated because they want to know who is to blame, who is at fault, and they are not getting the answers they want.
In hours of testimony nine witnesses took the stand, including Harrisburg Business Manager Robert Kroboth, former Mayor Stephen Reed adviser Andy Giorgione and Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste, who called this situation a catastrophic failure resulting from gross mismanagement.
From the testimony, the senators concluded that the financial deals that led to this financial disaster were wrought with conflict of interests. They talked about hidden money and payouts.
Senator John Blake said it was clear that the city used the financing of the incinerator to plug holes in the city's budget. But no one is taking the blame.
Elected leaders are blaming the professionals and the professionals are pointing fingers elsewhere. This frustration led Senator Mike Folmer to ask the obvious question.
“The who is, who was driving this train? Who's the final, I mean, who's in charge? Who's driving the train?” Folmer questioned.
Later on, it was pointed out that the mayor, county and authority board were driving the train. One point the senators made was that there were dozens of financial experts, lawyers and elected leaders involved in making these financial decisions and they find it hard to believe that no one had the sense to say all this borrowing was a bad idea and tried to stop it.
But again, a lot of money was paid out in fees to many people involved.