Public-Private Parking Prevents Tax Hikes
Facing immense fiscal and political pressures, many local governments are looking for ways to fund services without raising taxes. But officials need not curb their enthusiasm for fiscal responsibility if they simply put the brakes on being in the parking business. Pennsylvania has 41 special government parking authorities; the rest of the nation, combined, has five. Despite their abundance, few can explain exactly why Pennsylvania relies on government-run parking monopolies.
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Preserving Penn’s Woods Proven by Public-Private Partnerships
Earlier this month, Gov. Tom Corbett suggested the commonwealth consider leasing state park operations and services. Almost immediately and without thoughtful consideration, pundits launched political fire, claiming "privateers" would exploit or commercialize our natural resources beyond recognition.
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Privatizing "Yellow Pages" Government
This report surveys the scope of Yellow Pages Government in Pennsylvania, looks at examples of state and local privatization throughout the country, and outlines best practices to equip lawmakers to successfully transition government out of unnecessary services by implementing a variety of models.
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Does Professional Licensing Protect Consumers or Big Business?
After his friend was killed by a drunk driver, Illinois resident Jonathon Schoenakase began to offer bar patrons a free ride home. Although he never charged for this service, Schoenakase did accept the occasional tip. For this, he was busted in a sting orchestrated by the local taxi operators and the police for "operating without a transportation service license."
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Harrisburg's Woes: Coming to a City Near You
Gov. Rendell's recent state bailout of the city of Harrisburg has brought attention to the capital city's fiscal mismanagement. With millions in debt payments and an enormous pension obligation, Harrisburg's financial woes run deep-and it is likely just the first in a long line of Pennsylvania cities to contemplate bankruptcy.
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Break Up SEPTA
How can Pennsylvania lawmakers avoid this mess? The first step is to open mass transit in Philadelphia to competitive contracting, whereby private companies would compete to operate SEPTA's network. Cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston use competitive contracting of transit services. In addition to bus services, approximately 15% of commuter rail services in the United States are competitively contracted. This practice has reduced operating costs 20% to 51%, with savings of about 3
Read More >A Tale of Three Cities: Pennsylvania's Retiree and Medical Liability Challenges
Pennsylvania maintains over 3,000 public pension plans at the state, city and municipal levels, the most of any state and approximately 25% of all such plans in America. Over 2,200 of these plans are of the often financially and politically problematic “defined-benefit” genre. According to the Pennsylvania Public Employee Retirement Commission (PERC), over 67 percent of these plans have fewer than 10 members.
Read More >Soccer Stadium Plans: No Goal
Recently, Governor Rendell and Republican state lawmakers stood side-by-side to announce a multi-million dollar taxpayer grant to build a soccer stadium in Chester, under the guise of "economic development." Major League Soccer (MLS) obliged and awarded an expansion franchise to the region. Unfortunately, a new soccer stadium and team will likely fail to revitalize the area's economy, and will just become another financial burden on state and local taxpayers.
Read More >How to Fix Mass Transit
In their final report, the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission wrote: The Commission concludes that no additional funding should be provided for highways, bridges and transit unless a series of parallel actions are taken to reform funding structure and a number of transportation business practices. [Emphasis added]
Read More >Mass Transit Reform: Lessons for Pennsylvania
Executive Summary Pennsylvania’s two major public transit agencies, the Philadelphia-area Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and the Pittsburgh-based Port Authority Transit (PAT), have been in financial crisis for years, with no indication of abatement. In response to budget shortfalls—SEPTA and PAT are expected to run deficits in excess of $120 and $45 million respectively in FY 2007-08—policymakers have adopted a three-faceted response: cut service, r
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