Coatesville grapples with covering arsons' costs

While the emotional cost of Coatesville's unsolved series of arsons remains incalculable, the financial price tag continues to climb.

At a specially scheduled public meeting in City Hall at 6 tonight, City Manager Harry G. Walker III will repeat his controversial request for the release of $900,000 from a city trust fund to pay bills.

In the meantime, the cash-strapped city is just a six-page, online application away from receiving up to $250,000 from the state, Mike Smith, a spokesman for Gov. Rendell, said yesterday.

Smith said the state had taken steps "to expedite" the emergency funds by briefing city officials on the application process, which involves describing the city's needs and itemizing costs.

Smith said "a very quick turnaround" was expected once the application was submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; however, he could not provide a more specific timetable.

"We're making every effort to ensure that bureaucracy doesn't get in the way of providing assistance," said Smith.

Yesterday afternoon - almost two weeks after Rendell pledged the money - the state had not received Coatesville's application, Smith said.

City spokeswoman Kristin Geiger said that city and state officials communicated Friday, but that she did not know when the application would be completed.

"It's in the works," she said, adding that efforts were being made "to obtain the funds as soon as possible."

Walker first broached the trust-fund option publicly at a Feb. 9 City Council meeting, where it met resistance.

"My biggest concern is that I don't know whether we had a balanced budget last year," City Councilman Ed Simpson said yesterday, adding that he had made repeated requests for an accounting. "I don't know whether we owe money or not. It's crazy."

Simpson said the special meeting was called to give city officials time to provide 2008 budget figures to City Council. He said the meeting format would give the public an opportunity to speak.

Geiger disagreed, calling the meeting a "work session" with "no public comment."

The scourge of set fires, which began in February 2008, has intensified this year, despite the arrest of three alleged arsonists in December, all of whom remained in custody.

Last year, the city, a former steel center in Chester County, reported 26 set fires; this year's arson toll is 18, with property damage estimated at $3.5 million and dozens of people left homeless.

On Feb. 4, the crisis prompted intervention from Rendell, who pledged $500,000, half to help the victims and half to defray city expenses.

Walker has said the city couldn't afford to wait for Harrisburg and needed an immediate cash infusion. He said a month of police and fire overtime cost the city $100,000. The city, home to about 11,600 residents, also purchased $12,000 worth of motion-detection lights for distribution to homeowners.

Since the arsons have occurred under cover of darkness, members of the Coatesville Arson Task Force have urged residents to keep their properties illuminated and to remove outside materials, such as upholstered furniture, that have been used as kindling.

The task force, a consortium of federal, state, county, and local agencies dedicated to apprehending whoever is responsible for the fires, was created at Rendell's urging.

John Hageman, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the task force, said yesterday that the investigation was continuing.