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No longer 'distressed' Mahanoy City leaves Act 47 program

After years of serious money problems, the borough in Schuylkill County is celebrating being debt free. Mahanoy City was able to do it with help from the state.

MAHANOY CITY, Pa. — On Thursday, county and state officials crowded the borough hall in Mahanoy City for a celebration. The borough is officially out of the state's Act 47 program.

Act 47 helps communities throughout Pennsylvania that are in financial trouble.

When Mahanoy City joined the program in 2016, the borough was running out of money, struggling to pay its bills, and racking up debt on garbage collection fees.

"I didn't know if they could pull together the leadership to make the tough decisions that had to be made to come out of the financial situation that they were," said Rick Vilello, Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Community Affairs and Development.

One of those tough decisions involved raising taxes by one and a half percent, the first tax increase the borough had seen in 20 years.

"I was totally against more taxation to the people, but when you get into it, and you see the position the borough was in, we had no choice," said Michael Connolly, chair of the borough council.

"To be successful, you have to have your finances in order. And you don't want to raise taxes excessively, but you want to be in a position that you can pay your bills," added Vilello.

Since 2016, Mahanoy City has been receiving assistance through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development under its Act 47 program. And now they are finally debt free.

"Being out of debt is the biggest win. We were seriously in debt, and we're now in a good financial situation as we are right now. But we as the council have got to still remember that we can't go back to that situation we were in before. We have to be fiscally responsible to make sure we never get in that situation again," explained Connolly.

"Places in Scranton were in a distressed status for decades, so to be here today in six years is a real accomplishment," Vilello said.

The borough plans to invest money into paving roads and knocking down deteriorating buildings.

"Will we ever get back to the old Mahanoy City? Never. But we're headed in the right direction," Connolly said.

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