$2.7B in county is tax-exempt

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.comEducation Reporter

Everybody’s talking taxes, but nearly $2.7 billion of Luzerne County’s reassessed property is tax-exempt, according to a review of raw data. That means 11.4 percent of assessed value isn’t generating any property tax money for municipalities, school districts and the county.

What municipality has the biggest percentage of tax assessment listed as tax-exempt?

Plains Township – where 33 percent of total assessed value is tax-exempt.

That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, though, considering the township is home to two of the highest-valued, tax-exempt parcels in the county: The Pocono Downs/Mohegan Sun complex valued at more than $97.9 million, and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center valued at about $96.2 million.

Wilkes-Barre has the second highest percentage of tax-exempt assessed value, at 27 percent. But the city has the highest dollar value in tax-exempt property, nearly $580 million compared to about $365 million in Plains Township. The biggest chunk of tax-free property in Wilkes-Barre is Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, assessed at a bit more than $26 million.

Nanticoke is a close third, with nearly 26 percent of its total assessed value tax-exempt. The main reason: Luzerne County Community College, which lists one large parcel value at $41.7 million and a second at $2.9 million.

Shickshinny runs a distant third with a bit less than 17 percent of assessed value categorized as tax-exempt, including two parcels on Vine Street along Hunlock Creek. The elementary school run by Northwest Area School District was assessed at about $1.9 million, and a parcel owned by the Luzerne County Housing Authority was assessed at a little more than $1.1 million.

New Columbus Borough had the smallest percentage of tax-exempt property in its total assessed value, a mere 0.8 percent. Only two parcels assessed at a combined $121,600 are tax-exempt. Six other municipalities had less than 2 percent of total assessed value tagged as tax-exempt: Harveys Lake, Dorrance Township, Yatesville, Hollenback Township, Bear Creek Village and Penn Lake Park.

While Jeddo didn’t hit that low of a percentage mark – 3.4 percent of its total assessed value is tax-exempt – it has so little total assessed value ($3.6 million) that it ranks as having the second lowest amount of tax-exempt property in dollar figures, with only $124,400 worth of property off the tax rolls. Two of the four tax-exempt parcels are owned by the borough itself, while a third is owned by the Jeddo-Highland Coal Co. and one by the East Mahanoy and Hazleton Railroad.

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161