Former Harrisburg officials and advisers were back in the hot seat testifying in front of a Senate Committee. A second hearing was held to find out how Harrisburg got into this financial mess so new laws can be written to protect taxpayers in the future.
Tuesday marked the second full day of testimony involved Harrisburg's financial crisis and the Senators on the Local Government committee just seem amazed that city leaders could have messed up this badly and put the city is such a terrible financial position. They also seemed very skeptical of much of what was said today.
Could what has happened to Harrisburg have been prevented? And could laws be updated to stop it from ever happening again?
Those are just some of the questions the Senate Committee on Local Government is trying to answer. Some say no, it could not have been stopped.
But the Senators seemed to have their doubts. It was pointed out that the problem was not the decisions made by city leaders, the problem was that the work in the incinerator was not done right.
But the Senators said there were many red flags to warn leaders that the project could not have been finished for the initial price. The numbers were flimsy. It was called a house of card by Senator Eichelberger.
Plus, there was not enough cash flow or an adequate performance bond or insurance policy in case the work went bad. Now the city is near bankruptcy.
Plus, everyone knew this was a big risk. But they kept borrowing money anyway, even when it wasn't working.
“I don't see how the financial analysts and the bond council and everyone involved with this didn’t raise flags and ask additional questions about what was collapsing around them as these deals went on and on and on,” commented Senator John Eichelberger, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Governments.
“If you went back in time and were sitting in all these meetings, I don't know if you would have reached a different conclusion to not go forward with this project,” commented Andy Giorgione, a former Reed advisor. “It's easy to Monday morning quarterback here a little bit.”
The one thing we learned during these hearings is that more investigating needs to be done. There were calls for further investigations Tuesday, as well, to hold those accountable that caused this mess.
Tuesday marked the second full day of testimony involved Harrisburg's financial crisis and the Senators on the Local Government committee just seem amazed that city leaders could have messed up this badly and put the city is such a terrible financial position. They also seemed very skeptical of much of what was said today.
Could what has happened to Harrisburg have been prevented? And could laws be updated to stop it from ever happening again?
Those are just some of the questions the Senate Committee on Local Government is trying to answer. Some say no, it could not have been stopped.
But the Senators seemed to have their doubts. It was pointed out that the problem was not the decisions made by city leaders, the problem was that the work in the incinerator was not done right.
But the Senators said there were many red flags to warn leaders that the project could not have been finished for the initial price. The numbers were flimsy. It was called a house of card by Senator Eichelberger.
Plus, there was not enough cash flow or an adequate performance bond or insurance policy in case the work went bad. Now the city is near bankruptcy.
Plus, everyone knew this was a big risk. But they kept borrowing money anyway, even when it wasn't working.
“I don't see how the financial analysts and the bond council and everyone involved with this didn’t raise flags and ask additional questions about what was collapsing around them as these deals went on and on and on,” commented Senator John Eichelberger, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Governments.
“If you went back in time and were sitting in all these meetings, I don't know if you would have reached a different conclusion to not go forward with this project,” commented Andy Giorgione, a former Reed advisor. “It's easy to Monday morning quarterback here a little bit.”
The one thing we learned during these hearings is that more investigating needs to be done. There were calls for further investigations Tuesday, as well, to hold those accountable that caused this mess.