After months of debate, the city s wastewater treatment plant officially has a new owner.
On Tuesday, March 2, City Council members voted 4-1 in favor for the $235 million sale of York s wastewater treatment plant to Pennsylvania-American Water. In accordance with the purchasing agreement, $20 million of the sale will be allocated to help the city offset legacy costs and pay off sewer revenue bonds. Councilwoman Edquina Washington was the lone dissenting vote. Councilwoman Washington had previously voiced concerns over the sale. It is another step forward in a relatively complex process to transfer one of the city s largest assets, Mayor Michael Helfrich said.
York City officials eye surveillance network to combat crime
York Dispatch
Widespread video surveillance could be York City s next strategy to fight crime, Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow said Monday.
Muldrow said local private organizations are interested in raising funds for a surveillance network similar to one already in place throughout Lancaster City. Those groups would secure the funding for the camera network, Muldrow said, and an independent organization would oversee it. I think that it will quickly become an invaluable tool, that if we would be able to pull it off in York, would dramatically impact our communities quickly, Muldrow said.
York City avoids government shutdown, passes budget
York Dispatch
York City avoided tax hikes, job cuts and a potential government shutdown Wednesday afternoon after council member Edquina Washington relented and supported a 2021 budget that assumes the sale of the city s wastewater treatment system.
Washington has for a week been a critic of the plan, first put forth by Mayor Michael Helfrich, that would fund the city s $116.8 million budget without tax increases and job cuts. The alternative to selling the wastewater system, Helfrich has said, was a budget that would have hiked property taxes by 48% and eliminated more than two dozen jobs.
Helfrich: Toomey was just wrong to ax lending from COVID-19 package
York Dispatch
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey botched the opportunity to help struggling municipalities such as York City by leading the charge to strip emergency lending in the most recent COVID-19 relief package, Mayor Michael Helfrich said Tuesday.
The Senate on Monday approved the $900 billion package in a 92-6 vote following months of partisan gridlock that left the country without additional pandemic aid. But the removal of $400 billion in Federal Reserve lending, an effort led by the Pennsylvania Republican, killed any chances of direct aid to municipalities.
While the bill on Tuesday moved to President Donald Trump s desk, the president in a Twitter video later that day indicated he may not sign the bill because it failed to provide enough direct aid to individual citizens.