Farrell exits distressed municipality designation after 32 years
After 32 years of being a financially distressed city under Act 47 in Pennsylvania, a Mercer County city finally celebrates a path to financial prosperity.
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After 32 years of being a financially distressed city under Act 47 in Pennsylvania, a Mercer County city finally celebrates a path to financial prosperity.
In 1987 Farrell became the first city in Pennsylvania to get state financial help under the designation Act 47.
Troubles began when Sharon Steel closed.
As of Friday, they are the 15th municipality to exit the program successfully.
Mayor Olive McKeithan said the designation hurt the city from getting new business. She hopes that will now change.
"People always had a stigma that we were a poor community, and we aren't really a poor community We were distressed, and I thought businesses wouldn't want to come into a distressed community," said McKeithan.
For decades Farrell had to do more with less.
"It's very difficult. You have to make a lot of tough decisions, and this council was willing to do that. You have to bite the bullet and reduce expenses which they did and still be able to offer the services to its citizens," said Ed Fosnaught who was the Act 47 Coordinator for Farrell.
While Farrell was in financial distress, they were able to get a little more income tax from those who didn't live in Farrell. Instead of just 1% income tax, Farrell was able to get 1.8% Now that they are out of financial distress they will be getting less of that taxable income.
"That's a large hit to take," said Farrell City Manager, Michael Ceci. "But we've been managing and budgeting for many years now as if we did not have that extra money by creating a rainy day fund, making sure we didn't have any long term debt and setting ourselves to make sure we can move forward from this point on."
The Governor's Center for Local Government Services oversaw Farrell's Act 47 designation. Coordinators of that state program say they will still offer Farrell help with direction and seeking future grants.