SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) — A day after the Scranton mayoral debate at the University of Scranton, the four candidates for mayor are doubling down on their debate-night claims and pushing back on their opponents’ attacks over crime, infrastructure, and city contracts.

All four candidates appearing on the ballot, Democratic Mayor Paige Cognetti, Republican Trish Beynon, and independents Gene Barrett and Rik Little, attended Thursday night’s debate.

The morning after, candidates offered new comments and clarifications about some of the most heated moments of the night.

Crime in Scranton became one of the debate’s central topics. Both Beynon and Barrett claimed that violent crime has increased under Cognetti’s administration.

Barrett said Friday, “These statistics are from the Pennsylvania State Police and also were published in the Scranton Times. Violent crime was up from 2024 compared to 2023 in six of the major tracked categories.”

Beynon also referenced reports from the New York Post and Scranton Times-Tribune, saying, “Crime, especially homicides, have gone up quite a bit in the city of Scranton, and that’s basically due to gang influence. In 2024 there were four homicides, three in 2023, compared to nine in 2019.”

FOX56 was unable to locate the New York Post article cited by Beynon with specific stats. However, a recent Post report did reference rising homicide numbers in Scranton earlier this year.

Cognetti countered those claims, saying the data show crime is not spiking and that more police activity may be contributing to higher reporting numbers.

According to data reviewed by FOX56 from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program and the Pennsylvania State Police, violent crime in Scranton peaked in 2022 and has since declined.

In 2024, FBI data showed roughly 213 violent crimes, down from about 310 in 2022.

Property crimes also fell from earlier highs, though Scranton still ranks fifth in Pennsylvania for violent crime among midsized cities.

State data shows a similar pattern, with violent crimes rising statewide from 2020–2022 before leveling off.

Barrett also responded to Cognetti’s claims about the city’s infrastructure and his previous role with the Scranton Sewer Authority.

“Most of the utilities in the central business district and lower hill section are well over 100 years old,” Barrett said. “Whenever I got a call from the public works or the police department or the utility that notified me that there was an issue with a particular manhole, then I have a list of contractors that I would call to see about their availability, and we would correct the problem.”

During the debate, Cognetti referenced a 2017 lawsuit filed by the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association against the Scranton Sewer Authority, Pennsylvania American Water, and the city. The lawsuit, which did not name Barrett personally, alleged an improper change to a landfill permit that allowed the Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore to use an alternate leachate line. The suit was dismissed that same year when a judge ruled the group lacked standing to sue.

Another tense exchange Thursday night came when Cognetti said one construction company tied to Beynon’s employer was paid for work that was never completed.

In a statement Friday, Beynon called that claim “totally false.”

“The facts are that the City of Scranton paid a settlement of close to $300,000 to my employer because they failed to give them notice after awarding them a contract,” Beynon said. “She lied about that, and it was later settled in court.”

Cognetti said audits conducted during her administration found the opposite.

“One of these audits discovered that there was $238,000 that had been given to said construction company in the prior administration, and the work was never performed,” she said.

In a written statement to FOX56, Cognetti defended her record and said she’s focused on continuing the work she started since first being elected in 2020.

“When I first ran for mayor six years ago, it was to clean up a corrupt City Hall. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made,” Cognetti said.

“We cut red tape, fixed the city’s dismal finances, attracted new businesses, put more cops on the beat, added new parks and pools, repaired our infrastructure, and made real reforms.”

She added, “Scranton deserves a mayor that’s not looking out for their personal self-interests or lining their bank accounts. That’s why I’m running for Mayor again – to continue my fight to ensure accountability and trust in local government and to get things done. “

Efforts to contact independent candidate, Rik Little were unsuccessful.

Voters will choose Scranton’s next mayor during the general election on November 4th.