Luzerne County Courthouse
File photo
Luzerne County Council unanimously voted last week to sell 67 properties in the repository, a pool of tax-delinquent parcels that were not snatched up at popular prior back-tax auctions.
Repository parcels are available for purchase at any time. Sales are encouraged because the county has amassed approximately 1,000 repository properties that are now in limbo, with no active owners to maintain and pay taxes on them.
A list of available repository properties and information on all tax auctions is posted at luzernecountytaxclaim.com.
Prospective repository buyers can perform more research on where these properties are located by using the Property Identification Number, or PIN, on the online repository report.
The county’s GIS/Mapping Department offers a free online map containing all parcels within the county, and the public can search using the PIN number. A link to this map and more explanation is posted on the department’s page at luzernecounty.org.
Most repository properties have a minimum bid of $500 for vacant lots and $1,000 for parcels with a structure, although those posted in the period immediately after a tax auction may sell for more.
Reserve boost
County Councilman Tim McGinley is proposing council help bolster the reserve fund with a deposit of $260,845 from a dividend the county received as a participant of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Trust.
The resolution said the trust’s board provided cash dividends because the “financial improvement of the economy” created a trust surplus.
The county’s budget reserve for unforeseen emergencies had been $1.23 million last year, but a council majority had reduced the 2023 reserve to $245,000 to help keep the real estate tax increase below 3%. Earlier this year, council increased the reserve by transferring $109,602 in state reimbursement related to a special election.
If the unemployment trust transfer is approved, the reserve will be more than $615,000.
Council approval is necessary for any departments to access reserve funds.
Ethics Commission
The county’s Accountability, Conduct and Ethics Commission will meet at 2 p.m. today in the council meeting room at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.
Agenda topics include a discussion regarding public disclosure of pending complaints.
There is no virtual attendance option for this meeting.
Audit committee
Council’s Budget, Finance and Audit Committee will meet at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the courthouse, with instructions for remote attendance posted under council’s online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.
The county’s annual audit must be completed by June 30 under the home rule charter — a deadline set to ensure financial information about the state of prior-year finances is known in a timely manner and to avoid pre-home rule delays that made the data too stale.
A delay in the county’s 2022 audit was averted when crucial Children and Youth information needed to complete the audit recently was submitted by an outside auditor.
Board interviews
Council’s Authorities, Boards and Commissions Committee will hold a public session to interview prospective citizen applicants for county boards at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the courthouse. Remote attendance instructions will be posted at luzernecounty.org.
The county currently has vacancies on the Blighted Property Review Committee, County Cares Commission, Children and Youth Advisory Board, Forty Fort Airport Advisory Board, Industrial Development Authority, Planning Commission and Redevelopment Authority, among others, according to an online listing.
Applications and other information for citizens interested in serving on county boards is posted under council’s authorities/boards/commissions section at luzernecounty.org.
Wyoming Valley Airport
The reactivated Forty Fort Airport Advisory Board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday at the county courthouse, with instructions for virtual attendance listed under council’s authorities/boards/commissions online meetings section.
This board helps support the 110-acre, county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport complex in Forty Fort and Wyoming.
While four advisory board seats are still vacant, six citizens have been appointed to serve and held their first meeting earlier this month.
