THROOP \u2014 A Lackawanna County budget hearing Thursday lacked public infighting among the commissioners but featured pleas to pause the county\u2019s nearly completed property reassessment from speakers who acknowledged a court order requiring the county to implement reassessed property values by Jan. 1.<\/p>\n
Newton Twp. farmer Keith Eckel, Newton Twp. Board of Supervisors Chairman Doug Pallman and Kevin Gilbride, the owner of Gilbride Limousine in Olyphant, called on the county to pursue legal avenues that could allow for an extension of the Jan. 1 deadline. Former state Rep. Thom Welby, the Democratic candidate in a Tuesday special election for commissioner, Blakely Borough Planning Commission Chairman Chet Merli, the Republican candidate in that race, and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak also contend the county should pursue a reassessment pause.<\/p>\n
The prospect of a pause is made dubious, however, by the stipulated court order and recent statements by the attorney representing litigants in a civil case over reassessment that resulted in the order. County officials agreed to the terms of the order in 2022, postponing further action in the lawsuit seeking to compel a reassessment on the basis of tax fairness.<\/p>\n
Plaintiffs in that case contend the county\u2019s long-outdated 1968 assessments have resulted in disparate taxes on similar properties, with some property owners paying far more than their fair share in taxes and some paying far less. Attorney Marielle Macher, the executive director of the nonprofit Community Justice Project who represents those plaintiffs, issued a statement last week expressing no appetite to extend the Jan. 1 implementation deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the contrary, the reassessment appears on track to do exactly what it was supposed to do \u2014 result in a fairer distribution of the tax burden, especially for the owners of lower value homes, who are currently paying a vastly disproportionate share of the tax burden under the 1968 base year,\u201d Macher said, noting they\u2019d move to enforce the court order if the county attempted to unilaterally change the timeline. \u201cDelaying implementation of the reassessment will simply force over-assessed low-income homeowners to continue to pay more than their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speakers at the budget hearing in Throop acknowledged the need to reassess, but said the county should pursue a potential pause through legal channels. They cited concerns, including uncertainty about the reassessment\u2019s impact on future tax bills and over difficulty getting timely appraisals done on commercial properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly believe and hope that everybody\u2019s desire is to serve the taxpayers of this county as well as we can, and its citizens,\u201d Eckel said. \u201cAnd I absolutely believe that does mean every legal attempt to delay implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pallman, a poultry farmer who co-owns Pallman Farms in South Abington Twp., made a similar case. He cited reassessment-prompted uncertainty officials are grappling with as they prepare Newton Twp.\u2019s 2026 budget, and worries people might not pay their taxes next year while appealing their reassessment in court, jeopardizing revenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommissioners, I urge you all to do what\u2019s fair, reasonable and responsible, and that\u2019s ask the court to delay the implementation until the 2027 tax year,\u201d Pallman said.<\/p>\n
He also acknowledged that a court could uphold the order and preclude an extension.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Bill Gaughan reiterated his position Thursday that the county has no choice but to proceed with the reassessment timeline because of the court order. He also believes an attempted delay would be irresponsible.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo attempt to pause it would be devastating to the county and taxpayers,\u201d Gaughan said after the budget hearing. \u201cIt would cost us a ton of money, because we would be dragged right back into court, and then we would not be able to do anything in terms of restarting it until at least 2027. It\u2019s just delaying the inevitable, and it\u2019s a waste of time and a waste of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Cappellini, the independent candidate in Tuesday\u2019s special election for commissioner, has equated proposals to pause the reassessment with political pandering. He\u2019s called the reassessment \u201cvery imperfect,\u201d but said the court order ties the county\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
Democratic Commissioner Brenda Sacco, who recently took office pursuant to an appointment process, said the reassessment is necessary but needs to be fair and equitable. Whether she would back a legal effort to delay it remains to be seen. Sacco said Wednesday she wants to assess the situation after the reassessment appeals process concludes Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a very fact-based individual and I really truly need to see where we\u2019re at at the end of the week,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sacco is expected to be replaced by the winner of Tuesday\u2019s special election, who would hold the seat into early January 2028. But she\u2019s said she hopes to hold the seat for the remainder of that unexpired term, suggesting another potential future legal battle unrelated to reassessment.<\/p>\n
Chermak said Thursday he wants the county\u2019s legal team to explore its options on the reassessment front.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe it\u2019s certainly doable,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure that we can come up with a solution to this problem and I believe the courts will allow it \u2014 and it\u2019s certainly worth a shot, so we\u2019re going to try.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s budget hearing was of stark contrast to a much more acrimonious session the commissioners held Wednesday night in Dunmore. The proposed 2026 budget does not include a tax hike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THROOP \u2014 A Lackawanna County budget hearing Thursday lacked public infighting among the commissioners but featured pleas to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,3104,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-20179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news","15":"tag-throop","16":"tag-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}