A Brilliant Idea to Balance Cities’ Budget

The city of Harrisburg is hiring a consultant to give some tips to balance its budget, ABC 27 reports. Lancaster, PA hired the same firm a few years ago – at a cost of $200,000 to taxpayer (the bulk of which was inexplicably paid by the state).

Management Partners, Inc. suggested Lancaster needed to increase service fees and even cut staff. Of the 180 recommendations, the city acted on nearly half.

“Some of them we couldn’t implement because of resistance from unions,” Gray said. “Some of them we’re still looking at and in the process of implementing.”

Here is one suggestion: stop spending so much money on consultants … or eliminate the budget office that can’t do the job itself.