Scranton Pays Back Wages, May Layoff Workers

The city of Scranton, P.A. has been ordered to pay its police and firefighters unions the millions of dollars in back taxes that they are owed. Thanks to a Pennsylvania State Supreme Court ruling that was handed down on Wednesday of this week the city of Scranton must pay for the police and fire unions salaries owed from between the years of 2003 to 2007.

While this is good news for the unions, who have won the right to the money, the timing really could not be worse. With states and cities all over the country in a distressed finical state, usual due to decreased tax revenues, finding extra money is not easy. The city of Hoboken is really in no better condition than a lot of areas. This means that in order to make up for the money that must now come out of the budget, cuts will have to be made in other areas.

The decisions will mean millions in lost funds for the city of Scranton. While, at this point, the exact amount to be paid has not been calculated this means that both tax increases and layoffs may be in the future for Scranton. The money either has to be carved out of the existing budget, or taken from the taxpayers.

Both of the unions told reporters that they were happy, but not surprised about the six to one decisions in favor of the unions. Dave Gervasi, the President of the Scranton firefighters union told a local reporter that, “We weren’t surprised at all. We were very happy. The highest court in the land just vindicated us and everything we’ve been saying for the last nine years.”

The city of Scranton was already facing serious budgetary problems before this ruling. The city is currently facing a more than a $6 million deficit and the added funds will put more of a strain on the problem.

Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty told a local reporter this about the impact of the ruling, “It has a tremendous financial impact on the city because we have to pay for back wages and it puts a real burden on the taxpayers… I’ve said all along our budget will be balanced, and you pay for the government you can afford. If police and fire are going to get raises and they don’t pay for their health care, well there will be less of them and they’ll work harder.”

Union leaders are, of course, outraged by the fact that they money may have to come from layoffs. Sergeant Bob Martin, of the Scranton police union, told one local reported that, “We are already understaffed to dangerous levels. Any more cuts will compound that and make it extremely difficult for everyone, and we just won’t be able to operate.”

Residents have expressed mixed feelings about the union’s rulings. The mayor has already said that the cuts to staff in next years budget will be serious. The budget for next year will be released during the next month.