Luzerne County Council voting on tax-delinquent repository sales

Luzerne County Council is set to vote Tuesday on the sale of 35 delinquent-tax, repository properties that did not sell in past back-tax auctions.

Sales are encouraged because the county has amassed approximately 1,000 repository properties that are in limbo, with no active owners to maintain and pay taxes on them. While batches are sold each year, new ones are added after each sale.

A list of other available repository properties and information on all tax auctions is posted at luzernecountytaxclaim.com.

Council’s voting meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with instructions for the remote attendance option posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org.

On the subject of back taxes, council also will vote on a request from Jenkins Township officials to abate delinquent county taxes attached to a property at 90 Plank St.

The municipality wants to take ownership of the severely blighted property through condemnation so it can be demolished, said council Chairman John Lombardo.

Pittston Area School District and township officials already have agreed to abate their portions of delinquent taxes, the agenda said.

The delinquent county taxes, with penalties, collectively total $1,591 dating back to 2020. Council also was asked to abate $499 taxes owed for 2024.

Budget changes

Two budget amendment ordinances also are on Tuesday’s agenda that will require a public hearing and council vote at a future meeting to take effect.

The first relates to the county-owned Broad Street Exchange Building at 100 W. Broad St. in downtown Hazleton.

The county accepted ownership of the building in 2009 from a tax-delinquent nonprofit so the county would not lose its claim on $1.8 million in loans that had been provided to the nonprofit.

A budget amendment is needed because the county is now managing the property in-house instead of employing an outside company to oversee expenses, maintenance and the collection of rent from tenants leasing space in the structure, including the Luzerne County Community College, the agenda said.

The ordinance would incorporate building expenses and revenue in the county budget.

In the second amendment, county correctional services wants to add the receipt of $336,364 in grant funding to the budget along with related expenses. The federal COVID-19 grant came through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and originated from the Centers for Disease Control.

According to the agenda, the grant will fund the purchase and installation of units to control and neutralize contaminants and monitors that track the vital signs of inmates under medical observation so staff can be alerted to changes in inmate temperature and heart rate.

Tax break

A tax break request is up for discussion at Tuesday’s work session, which follows the voting meeting, the agenda said.

Hazleton Logistics LLC is seeking the break for two adjacent Hazle Township properties.

It would be under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) program for blighted properties, which means the property owner pays real estate taxes on the land throughout the break and receives a discount on taxes for the new development.

The company plans to construct 802,732 square feet of industrial space in two buildings on adjacent lots in the Humboldt Industrial Park.

Hazleton Logistics is seeking a 90% abatement on new construction the first seven years, 80% in the eighth year, 70% in the ninth and 60% in the tenth and final year.

For implementation, council would have to approve the LERTA at a future meeting.