Property Reassessment

August 19, 2008

What protesters had to say

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
Steve Mocarsky on Facebook   |   @TLSteveMocarsky on Twitter

WILKES-BARRE – Here’s what some attendees at Monday’s rally, to call for a halt to the implementation of Luzerne County’s reassessment and to support the elimination of property taxes, had to say:

• Adam Sutliff, 23, of Harveys Lake, came to support his mother, who he said was overassessed by more than $400,000. The family had an appraisal done a couple weeks ago that valued the home at $91,000, while 21st Century Appraisals valued it at nearly a half-million dollars, he said. County commissioners “should delay this until they can fix it. I’m not against reassessment, I just want a fair one,” he said.

• Jim Collins, 50, of Pittston, said he was at the rally because the assessed value of his summer home at Harveys Lake tripled. “I don’t believe it was that bad. We’ve got to fight this,” he said.

• Wearing a red top and pants, waving a red flag and carrying a sign that read “Stop and delay incorrect reassessment,” Sandra Serhan of Harveys Lake said she was at the rally “because the reassessment was not done properly, plus it’s unconstitutional.”

• George Cannarozzo, 50, of Hazleton, said his concern is that Commissioner Maryanne Petrilla’s home was assessed 20 times higher than its original assessment “and she’s still all for it. I never heard of anything like that. She should understand that these people they hired did something radically wrong and the people in Tioga County had the same people and got rid of them. I think this county should do the same as Tioga County did,” he said.

• Patrick Stone, 74, of Plymouth Flats section of Plymouth Township, said his home gets flooded out every year. “I bought the place for $6,000 after the ’72 flood. Now, they appraise it for $84,000. That’s ridiculous. If the river comes up 21 or 22 feet, the road is flooded and I can’t get into my property. It’s land-locked. Do you think that’s right?” he said.

• Wearing a straw hat with tea bags hanging off and carrying a sign reading “Let’s have a tea party for a fair reassessment,” Larry Wolfe of Ross Township said he was spending part of his 68th birthday at the rally to protest. • Willard Hauze, 68, of Conyngham Township, said property taxes should be eliminated. His friend, Gerald Kovaleski, 68, of Harveys Lake, said the county should have an earned income tax instead. “Why should property owners finance Luzerne County government when there are thousands of other people living in (here) and they don’t pay any taxes,” Kovaleski said.

• Dorothy Endrizzi, 82, of Sugarloaf Township, said she came to make people aware that they need to push their legislators to vote for state House Bill 1275, which would eliminate property taxes. Endrizzi said state Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, was the only area legislator to vote for the bill.• Cathy Link, 55, a fourth-generation Harveys Lake resident, said her family is “going to be taxed off our own land. My father’s blood went into that land. I live in a house with no insulation and one bathroom. Does that sound like a million-dollar property to you?”

• Gene Nilon, 57, of Fairview Township, said his taxes would more than double under the reassessment. “What they should do is get the right amount. I have to get it appraised for $350 and hire a lawyer and I won’t get an answer until Nov. 1.”

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