* In this race, The Times-Tribune editorial board believes Courtright is the better choice.
* Courtright must be credited with taking a systematic, orderly approach to dealing with the difficult situation he inherited. A wayward state Supreme Court decision upended the previous administration’s progress toward economic recovery, leaving the Courtright administration to cover a massive arbitration award to public safety unions. The most poorly administered pension systems in the state threatened to drag under the entire government. A previous city council’s blockheaded decision to allow the Scranton Parking Authority to default on its debt seriously diminished what was left of the city government’s creditworthiness.
Scranton Times-Tribune: Courtright for mayor
By The Editorial Board
The Scranton mayoral race cannot be said to be a political beauty contest, all the more so because the winner could face some particularly ugly problems.
Beyond a host of issues regarding the city’s changing demographics, shrunken tax base, aging infrastructure and legacy costs, unfolding lawsuits in Lackawanna County Court could have profound long-term consequences for the city government and its taxpayers.
First-term incumbent Democrat Bill Courtright and Republican challenger Jim Mulligan have not used the campaign to lay out solutions or articulate visions for the city’s future that are equal to the task.
But in this race, The Times-Tribune editorial board believes Courtright is the better choice.
As noted by this page during his first term, Courtright has made some missteps, beginning with quickly agreeing to costly, long-term labor contract extensions that have yet to return the savings promised by the administration.
But Courtright must be credited with taking a systematic, orderly approach to dealing with the difficult situation he inherited. A wayward state Supreme Court decision upended the previous administration’s progress toward economic recovery, leaving the Courtright administration to cover a massive arbitration award to public safety unions. The most poorly administered pension systems in the state threatened to drag under the entire government. A previous city council’s blockheaded decision to allow the Scranton Parking Authority to default on its debt seriously diminished what was left of the city government’s creditworthiness.
As mayor, Courtright enlisted professional assistance, relying on an effective business administrator, David Bulzoni, to significantly improve government operations and bringing aboard consultant Henry Amoroso to work on a strategic plan, along with the Pennsylvania Economy League, the state government’s designated recovery coordinator.
The major strategic piece was selling the Scranton-Dunmore sewer system for $195 million, a huge decision and a move that Courtright said he opposed while running in 2013.
So far, that sale has enabled the city to pay down about $40 million in onerous debt, relieving mounting pressure on the operating budget.
But Courtright did not wrap the sale in the transparency it demanded, even while insisting it was done legally and in the public interest.
One pending lawsuit contends, with support from the plain language of the law, that the sale violated the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act. If the city loses, it could be on the hook for the $70 million it has received so far from the sale proceeds, which could be catastrophic.
And the city has lost the first rounds of another suit challenging its authority to levy a suite of taxes beyond the caps in state law.
Courtright or Mulligan must have a plan to deal with the fallout if the city loses those suits.
While deferring to others on the major issues, Courtright has not laid out a broad vision for the city’s future, only making vague references recently to the growing “meds and eds” sector of the economy. In a second term, he should expand his role beyond City Hall to make growth a key element of the city’s recovery.
Mulligan’s candidacy is a study in contradictions. A lawyer, he has a checkered history as a solicitor for a variety of public agencies including the sewer authority, while criticizing the current administration along the same lines.
Likewise, he has made attracting businesses from other areas a centerpiece of his recovery policy, while moving his own law firm to Moosic when he and his partners devised a better deal than they had in Scranton.
Mulligan has strong roots in community advocacy, especially regarding opposition to the woeful Keystone Landfill expansion and the legal fight against use of sewer lines under the Green Ridge section of Scranton to carry effluent from the dump.
Scranton’s problems remain deep and profound, to the point that there might not be a perfect candidate to deal with them. But in the race before the voters, Courtright is the better choice.
Read the endorsement here.