Luzerne County Government

February 27, 2010

Homestead tax break is in county bills

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Luzerne County has printed and mailed 32,873 property tax bills that include the homestead tax break, county Information Technology Director Steve Englot said Friday.

Englot said his department will be working through the weekend and next week to get the more than 132,000 remaining bills printed and mailed.

The county had halted the mailing of bills last week because the bills did not include the homestead tax break for primary residences. The county spent thousands of dollars on postage, printing and labor to prepare the tax bills that were scrapped.

County minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said he and Commissioner Thomas Cooney were in the dark about the tax break cancellation, and both agreed on Monday that the homestead would be restored.

County Solicitor Vito DeLuca researched the law and concluded that it must continue unless commissioners vote to rescind it, which didn’t happen.

Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said she never knew the break had to continue beyond 2009.

Nearly 87,000 property owners are approved for the $52 county tax reduction for primary residences.

Englot said property owners in the first mailing should start receiving the new bills today.

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