Summary
Where was Tommy's homework? That's what the state-appointed oversight board wanted to know around 3:05 p.m. on May 12. Clearly [Tom Murphy] had done his assignment; news of the city's new five-year fiscal plan hit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Web site hours earlier, and reporters were walking around the board's meeting room with the blueprint. But the board, to which Murphy had to submit the plan under state law, didn't have it yet.
The General Assembly isn't likely to fix that tax structure without the oversight board's guidance, and board Chairman Bill Lieberman says he's "disappointed" with Murphy's plan. Lieberman says the several-hundred-million-dollar hole "should be of concern not only to me, but to every citizen of Pittsburgh and the commonwealth."Though the battles have mostly been over procedure, underlying them are the fundamentally different goals of Murphy and the board. Murphy wants to use the city's crisis to get his mitts on suburbanite money. Some oversight board members want to use the crisis to give the mostly suburban county control over the city. "In my opinion," says Lieberman, "in [the board's] seven-year lifespan, folding the city into the county is imperative."See the full content of this document
Extract
Political Footballs; Incomplete Pass
Starting Line-up
Mayor Tom Murphy's last-minute delivery doesn't score points with the oversight board.The Play-by-PlayWhere was Tommy's homework? That's what the state-appointed oversight board wanted to know around 3:05 p.m. on May 12. Clearly Murphy had done his assignment; new...See the full content of this document
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