The Sanatoga Post

NORRISTOWN PA – Montgomery County‘s credit is good, even “coveted,” county officials said Tuesday (Aug. 2, 2011) . But wait a day or two, they sadly concede, and that could change.

A press release issued by the county Communications Office said it had been notified that Moody’s Investors Service awarded a bond rating of “Aaa,” considered high in municipal circles. The county asked Moody’s for a rating because it expects to issue $35 million in bonds to refinance existing debt, following an anticipated county commissioners’ vote next week.

Moody’s “is among the world’s most respected and widely utilized sources for credit ratings, research and risk analysis,” the release claimed. And in it, Commissioners’ Chairman Jim Matthews boasted, “county finances are as sound as they have ever been.”

But if there’s a fly about to land in this financial ointment, it is the federal government’s own money troubles. Moody’s also told the county its rosy rating would be subject to “review for a possible downgrade” as a result of Washington’s recent problems with the national debt ceiling, and how it might relate to county finances.

An agreement Tuesday between Congress and President Obama to raise the debt ceiling “averted an immediate disaster,” Matthews said.

However, “it didn’t change the fact that the United States (by 2014) is going to be $20 trillion in debt and climbing … with a minimum of three years more of deficit spending after that,” Matthews added. “Moody’s and everyone else in the international financial community” will look closely “at all government financing for years to come,” he said.

Photo from Google Images

NORRISTOWN PA – Montgomery County should ask its voters whether spending $50 million to upgrade the county police radio system is a good idea, county commissioner candidates Jenny Brown and Bruce Castor suggested Monday (July 25, 2011).

Bruce Castor and Jenny Brown

Castor claimed the expense would put the county further in debt. “Police and the taxpayers both deserve the best” protection available, he said, but added that the public should be allowed to voice “opinions on the single most expensive project in county history.”

Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Police Chief Michael Shade and Manager Rodney Hawthorne both favor the upgrade, but the Board of Commissioners has yet to take an official position on the topic. Borough councils in Pottstown and Collegeville have voted against it as being too costly.

The county must change its radio system under an order from the Federal Communications Commission. The proposed upgrade is one option, but not the least expensive, available to meet the requirement.

“We can put our radio system into compliance with new federal guidelines at no cost to the county, then revisit the issue of upgrading the entire system when county finances improve,” Castor contended.

Bruce Castor and Jenny Brown

NORRISTOWN PA – The two endorsed Republican candidates campaigning to become Montgomery County (PA) commissioners in the fall general election said Wednesday they strongly opposed any plans to impose tolls on motorists using U.S. Route 422 between King of Prussia and Reading PA.

“Taxpayers have already paid for Route 422, and tolling in this circumstance is not appropriate,” said Jenny Brown, a tax attorney and local business owner. Her running mate, current Commissioner Bruce Castor, announced his opposition earlier; “County residents are taxed enough for their services in difficult economic times,” he told a newspaper last week, and added, “a toll is a tax.”

Brown and Castor joined what they called “growing opposition to the toll proposal.” State lawmakers also against tolling include Lower Pottsgrove, Limerick and Pottstown Rep. Tom Quigley, as well as Reps. Michael Vereb (R-150th Dist.), David Maloney (R-130th), Marcy Toepel (R-147th), and Warren Kampf (R-157th).

Brown is a founding partner at the Bridgeport PA law firm of Brown & Silbergeld, where she specializes in municipal finance. Castor is a former two-term county district attorney, and now works as a private attorney at the Elliot Greenleaf law firm in Blue Bell PA.

Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):

• County Candidates Brown, Castor Oppose 422 Tolling
• Quigley, Other Reps Questioning 422 Tolls Proposal
• 422 Toll Proposal Wins Some PA Commission Backers
• Exec Highway Group To Hear Rt. 422 Tolling As ‘Model’
• 422 Questions Answered, For Your Viewing Pleasure
• In 422 Tolling, Planners Say, Studying Doesn’t Make It So
• Former Reporter Asks Commissioners To Support 422 Tolls
• Online Survey Seeks Opinions On Local Road Congestion
• 422 Plus Project Plays Offense With FAQs Debut
• Peering Into The Future? Gov’s Bridge Proposal And 422
• Another Township Endorses 422 Master Plan
• Neighboring Limerick Supervisors Endorse 422 Master Plan
• Understand 422 Plan Endorsement, Lower Pottsgrove Advised
• Lower Pottsgrove Holds On 422 Plan Endorsement
• Engineers Claim PA Roads Worse Now Than In 2006
• Tuesday Session Tackles Funding For 422 And Elsewhere
• Tolls, Lower Pottsgrove Station Part Of 422 Plan
• Pending Decision May Affect Route 422 Projects
• Last Day For Your Say On Route 422 Plan
• Notebook Worthy (Aug. 24, 2009)
• Consultants Express Interest In Studying 422
• Don’t Like 422 Tolling? Website Wants Your Alternative
• Truckers Alerted On Highway Partnerships Bill
• In 422 Debate, Time A Hindrance And Help
• Notebook Worthy (June 29, 2009)
• Growth, Planners Say, Is 422’s Growing Problem
• Tech Used To Draw For 422 Meetings
• Route 422 Toll Meetings Next Week
• 422 Repairs, Delays Start Tuesday
• 422 Proposal, Like Traffic, Creeps Ahead
• Got A Route 422 Idea? Time To Air It
• Train Service On The Front Burner Once More

NORRISTOWN PA – Montgomery County Commissioners reportedly have already done what many local police chiefs, including Lower Pottsgrove‘s own Chief Michael Shade, had hoped they wouldn’t do: put a “band-aid” solution on a multi-million dollar communications problem with the county’s 9-1-1 emergency dispatch system.

The system’s radios are, for the most part, old and failing. Lower Pottsgrove has owned its handheld units for 16 years, Shade told the township Board of Commissioners during their Monday meeting (May 2, 2011), and they’re comparatively new, he said; at least half the radios used by other police departments in the county are even older.

The county, which is under a federal order to change how the system works, had three choices. It could simply switch frequencies on which the existing equipment operates, a process known as rebanding; it could upgrade the system and many of the handheld units at a cost of up to $50 million; or it could replace the entire system at a cost of up to $120 million.

Faced with a last Thursday (April 28) deadline imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, the county opted for rebanding, according to The (Lansdale PA) Reporter newspaper. The process could take up to three years, and for some police departments may present occasional “officer safety issues,” Shade suggested.

Despite their age, Lower Pottsgrove’s radios are digital models, “so hopefully we’ll make the (rebanding) transition without a problem,” Shade said.

“But that’s just a band-aid for the problem,” township board President Jonathan Spadt observed, as he heard the chief describe the situation.

From Shade’s perspective, the possibly good news is that the county hasn’t shut the door on an upgrade, which he and Lower Pottsgrove Manager Rodney Hawthorne favor. County officials indicate the upgrade can still be pursued, even while rebanding gets under way during the next six months.

On that topic, Shade gave commissioners and, by extension, township taxpayers an advance warning. Upgrading the handhelds alone costs between $5,000 and $7,000 per unit, he said. Given its contingent of officers and supervisors, Lower Pottsgrove could need 20 or more units. Shade expects related expenses lie ahead, “and I just wanted to bring the board up to date,” he said.

County Commissioners’ Chairman James Matthews has been blunt about the upgrade cost. He’s already proposed that municipalities pay an as-yet-undetermined share. “I would be loathe to incur all the cost of this for the county,” The Reporter quoted Matthews as saying. “There has to be some cost sharing.”

Matthews hopes to schedule a meeting this month for police, first responders and municipal representatives to discuss their options, according to The Reporter, and he suggested a 12-year bond as one way to finance purchases.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ meeting of May 2):

• Township Likely Faces Costs As Dispatch Radios Change
• Former Commissioner Seeks Warrants On Township Web
• Blue-Light Special: Tax Refund Due For Sanatoga K-Mart
• Stop Sign May Be Answer For Pruss Hill Road Crashes

Photo from KSL.com