WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- City Council is letting Mayor Tony George get his way in dealing with the city's crushing debt.
Council on Thursday voted 3-2 to borrow up to $52 million to restructure the city's long term debt, a plan George has been seeking for months.
George had given council an ultimatum: approve the plan Thursday or he would seek to have the city declared financially distressed as early as this morning under the state's Act 47 financial recovery plan.
Councilman Tony Brooks, who long opposed the plan, emerged recently as the possible deciding convert. In the end, he became the tiebreaker, voting yes along with councilmen Bill Barrett and Mike Belusko.
"If I have to choose between debt or a tax increase, I will choose debt," Brooks said.
Chairwoman Beth Gilbert and Councilman Mike Merritt voted no.
The borrowing and debt restructuring plan will put the city in a better cash flow position headed into the new year, but it's just the first in a series of difficult decisions the city faces when it come to finances, said City Administrator Ted Wampole.
All expenses will be evaluated as will possible ways to increase revenue, Wampole said.
"This is the very beginning of what will be a long process," Wampole said. "This is something we needed to do. The alternative is we run out of money."
