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Suggestions Already
Presented via Public Meetings and Letters to the Editor
If You Can’t Take the Time to Read the Following,
Don’t Complain About Government!
Luzerne County Commissioners cut the staff
of the Controller’s office thus weakening the system of
government Checks and Balances. I suggest additional staff
be hired so that the backlog of audits can be brought up and
kept up to date.
I suggested that the Controller become a member of the
Community College Board, the Prison Board and the Arena
Board to provide effective oversight of the county’s
financial interests. The Controller has now been added to
the Prison Board.
Municipal tax collectors of 73 municipalities forward their
collected taxes to the Controller’s office. To avoid a
conflict of interest, I suggest that municipal tax
collectors forward all taxes collected directly to the
County Treasurer’s office.
I suggested that all leases be reviewed with the option of
owning rather than rent. Currently, the two Wilkes-Barre
Magistrate offices combined pay approximately $140,000 per
year in rent. Without any increase in rent, the next 10
years will cost 1.4 million dollars. Obviously owning might
be a better option, especially when all county leases are
considered.
A review of previous Sheriff’s tax sale shows that several
property owners owe several million dollars in back taxes.
One property owner was in arrears of approximately $800,000
covering 27 properties. I strongly urge that a regulation be
implemented barring any property owner who is currently in
arrears with property taxes from being allowed to bid on any
tax sale properties till all back taxes are paid 100%
current. Additional penalty: If any property purchased at a
tax sale falls into tax delinquency, that bidder shall be
barred from future tax sales for a period of three (3) years
after the year in which the pasts due taxes are paid
current.
I propose that the Director of Property and Supplies review
each and every county vehicle to determine its status as to
economic usefulness and to remove from the county’s
insurance coverage any vehicle that is inoperable. I further
suggest that all vehicles be reviewed to determine value as
compared to replacing with a new vehicle.
I demanded an RFP (Request for Proposals) for all
Professional Services.
Establish travel and reimbursement procedures to avoid
potential problems such as the debit card issue. Adoption of
the Federal GSA travel and reimbursement guidelines.
Sell county assets and get them on the tax rolls. All county
owned properties must be sold to tax paying entities in
order to maintain the county's tax base.
Example of properties to be sold:
Valley Crest Land
Forty Fort Airport
Hazleton Buildings
Moon Lake: Request the courts to allow public service
sentences to be served at the Park to reduce maintenance
costs. Also, the use of Trustee inmates can be used for Park
maintenance. Rethink and promote Moon Lake to take advantage
of income produced from weekend and seasonal Campers.
Consider opening the Park for winter cross county skiing and
other such winter activities. It was strongly suggested that
the name of Moon Lake be sold on a yearly contract just as
the Arena name was sold. It was first the Wachovia Arena and
most recently the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Mohegan Sun
organization wants desperately to be viewed as an asset to
the area and they have never been approached to donate the
operating costs of Moon Lake. They would have the naming
rights which might be, "Mohegan Sun Moon Lake".
Request the courts to consider home confinement for
non-violent (not drug related) inmates which will save on
food, clothing and health insurance. Also, the cost of ankle
bracelets is the responsibility of the inmate and could
produce additional revenues to cover the costs of monitoring
and supervision fees. This policy would reduce the number of
inmates thus postponing the need of a new and larger prison
facility. Use of convicted non violent offenders to provide
maintenance for local communities as part of the home
confinement would ease operational maintenance costs of
municipalities. A Day Center has now been created saving the
tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Institute a policy for tax appeals by allowing property
owners to submit appraisals prepared by state certified
appraisers. The taxpayer would not have to take time off
from work for hearings and appeals or pay the additional
required fees for the appeal process. If the Board of
Assessment Appeals has a problem with a particular
appraisal, they can challenge the state certified appraiser
whose state certification would then be in jeopardy. The
effect of this simplified procedure will allow the county to
base anticipated tax revenues on a more realistic assessment
value.
I have criticized the county for paying off a previous
year’s tax anticipation note (TAN) early because of the lost
revenues. The inexperienced staff did not realize that the
TAN process is two fold. The county borrows funds to cover
expenses till tax revenues are available and secondly, the
excess funds are invested till the end of the year when the
note comes due. If properly negotiated, the interest charged
on the entire note is lower than the interest earned on the
excess and invested funds. This results in additional
revenues. Paying off the TAN early last year saved interest
on the note but cost the county a net loss of $400,000 in
income over the total interest cost.
I have been critical of the Pension Board’s decision to pay
the Philadelphia law firm what I consider to be excessive
fees. After paying huge legal fees during the Flood/Urban
Retirement Board period of control, the Board renegotiated
the legal fee structure. It was decided to pay the Legal
Firm a commission on any “recovered” pension funds. During
that time, the Plan had several types of Pension fund
investments. One of which was an investment in the Wells
Fund, which is a company that purchases commercial
properties and owns them outright. The investment is locked
in for a period of time and is backed by well-established
commercial real estate. To make a long story short, the
Flood/Urban team demanded the Wells Fund close and refund
the county's investment and Wells refused stating the locked
in time period. This was a no win situation for the county
and the investment went to full term. When the time period
ended, the county withdrew the investment and GAVE THE LAW
FIRM TWO MILLION DOLLARS as considered “recovered funds”!
Absurd! This was nothing less than cashing a matured
Certificate of Deposit. To add insult to injury, the county
is required to make an 11 million-dollar contribution to the
pension fund before the end of this year. Does it make you
wonder that with these kinds of payments due to shore up the
fund, why would the county have the second employee “early
retirement buy out” in five years? To think this is not an
added drain on the pension fund is downright nonsense.
I have personally presented each of these ideas
either by speaking at public meetings or through published
letters to the editor.
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