Act 47 Recovery Coordinator for City of Chester

ESI, in partnership with the law firm of McNees Wallace & Nurick, served as the Act 47 Recovery Coordinator for the City of Chester until Summer 2020 when the City was placed into Receivership by Pennsylvania Governor Wolf.

In this role, ESI provided budget and financial assistance to the City’s Finance Department; operational management support; revenue analyses and enhancement efforts; assisted the City with labor negotiations; and worked with the City on its various capital improvement and economic development efforts. In doing so, we worked closely with appointed and elected officials, meeting regularly and attending public meetings in the City, as well.

We developed the City’s Act 47 three-year Exit Plan in 2018. The plan evaluated Chester’s existing financial condition, identified historical financial and economic trends, and provided projections of financial results with and without recommended corrective actions to address the underlying problems that contributed to the City’s budget deficits. The Plan detailed steps required to improve Chester’s financial management infrastructure and to establish a long-term discipline for the City to achieve long-term structural balance. Upon the City being placed in Receivership in Spring 2020, ESI then assisted the court-appointed Receiver in developing the new recovery plan.