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TODAY’S
The Times Leader timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE, PA
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2011
TIME FOR A SUNNY SIESTA
WILKES-BARRE AREA
Board looks for budget solutions
SPENDING SHOWDOWN
Budget with cuts approved
School district faces potential deficit of $7.9 million in its 2011-12 budget.
House, Senate approve plan through end of budget year; bigger battle for 2012 looms.
By MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – WilkesBarre Area School District is facing a budget crisis for the 2011-12 school year, and members of the district’s budget and finance committee met Thursday to discuss how to plug massive holes caused by slashed state funding and increased operating costs. “I don’t think people really understand how serious … this budget deficit is,” Superintendent Jeffrey Namey said. “Unfortunately, this could turn out to be cataW H AT ’ S strophic.” NEXT? He said the The budget district must and finance “eliminate evcommittee ery ounce of fat will next that could be meet April eliminated,” 27 at 9:30 a.m. at the and that some district cuts “will be adminisvery difficult; tration buildsome of them ing. will leave a bad taste in your mouth. … To make up that kind of money, you’re looking at personnel.” The district is facing a potential deficit of $7.9 million in its 2011-12 budget, which is about $100 million. The district must find a way to make up $4.2 million in lost state and federal funding and $283,558 in lost tax revenue from a reduction of $21.3 million in assessed property tax value, as well as increases of $2.2 million in employee health care costs and $1.2 million in contracted salaries. Namey said he had met with the principals and asked them to review their budgets See BOARD, Page 12A
50¢
AIMEE DILGER /THE TIMES LEADER
he might not know much about art at her age, but she knows what she likes – a comfortable place to S take a break. Madigan Stegura, 4, rests on a stone sculpture Thursday after playing with her family on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre. The sun came out after cloudy skies and rain earlier in the week and the temperatures climbed into the 60s. The sun is back again today with highs in the upper 50s before rain returns Saturday. For more weather details, see Page 12B.
Role models wanted Mentoring program needs more Big Brothers to work with area youth. By DAWN DRUMIN Times Leader Correspondent
Big Sisters (BBBS) in Wilkes-Barre. His Little Brother is Joey, 12, of Pittston. Starting today, Big Brothers Big Sisters is seeking 30 more men like Kotsko to act as mentors for boys needing direction in its “30 Men 30 Days” campaign. Like other Big Brothers, Kotsko agrees to spend one to three hours a week doing things with his charge. Sometimes they eat out at Perkins or Friendly’s;
WILKES-BARRE – Brandon Kotsko of Bear Creek Village long has been interested in helping his community. “I wanted to do something that would allow me to give back,” he said. That’s why he became a Big Brother for Big Brothers See MENTORS , Page 7A
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Little Brother Joey with his Big Brother, Brandon Kotsko.
By DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON — Congress sent President Barack Obama hard-fought legislation cutting a record $38 billion from federal spending on Thursday, bestowing bipartisan support on the first major compromise between the White House and newly empowered Republicans in Congress. “Welcome to divided government,” said House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Republican point man in tough negotiations with the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry “Welcome Reid, D-Nev., that produced a to divided bill no one claimed to like in its governentirety. Leader of a rambunctious ment.” new majority, Boehner said John Boehner the cuts in domestic programs House Speaker were unprecedented. Yet he aland Republican so called the measure a lesspoint man in than-perfect first step in a long tough negotiations campaign against federal red ink, and dozens of rank-andfile conservatives voted against it. The White House also looked ahead to a struggle now beginning over national spending priorities in an era of soaring deficits and a $14 See BUDGET, Page 12A
B U D G E T S H O R T FA L L
County looks beyond Valley Crest no-sale By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County commissioners have failed to unload the former Valley Crest Nursing Home for the second time, but they’re not frazzled because they’ve come up with a backup plan to
cover the budget shortfall. The commissioners’ decision to count on revenue from the Valley Crest sale left a $4.4 million hole in the county’s 2011 budget. However, county Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne
Petrilla said Thursday that the county will likely receive an estimated $6 million in unbudgeted revenue by selling the right to claim 2010 back taxes owed to the county in exchange for See VALLEY, Page 12A
A time of memories and magic when Carters visit the mansion
Stegmaier house owner, chef and staff are thrilled to meet a beloved first couple. By STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com
DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER
Former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter visit Joe Matteo at his Stegmaier Mansion.
you build it, they will come,’ ” Matteo said. Little did he know that “they” would include a former United States president and his wife. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn spent Tuesday night at the 140-year-old Victorian structure after attending an auction in Plains Township to raise money for a restoration project in their hometown of Plains, Ga. The auction was presented as “Plains Helping Plains” by Plains Township residents Larry
WILKES-BARRE – When Joe Matteo bought the shuttered and dilapidated Frederick Stegmaier Mansion on South Franklin Street in 2001 with plans to restore it and turn it into a bed-andbreakfast, his friends and confidants asked him if he was out of his mind. “I kept saying that old adage, ‘If See MANSION, Page 7A
WEATHER
INSIDE
Connor Courtney Partly sunny, cooler. High 58. Low 38. Details, Page 12B
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