County pursuing unpaid dike fees

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.comLuzerne County Reporter

The owners of 2,138 properties still owe Wyoming Valley Levee maintenance fees for 2009, prompting the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority to vote Tuesday to publicly seek a collection company.

Liens will eventually be filed against delinquent properties, but authority members agreed Tuesday to first use telephone collection calls to go after the $231,500 owed.

Delinquent bills from 2010 will also be turned over to the collection agency, said authority Executive Director Jim Brozena.

Brozena told the authority he wants to reduce the number of liens because the county must pay to file them.

The controversial fee, initiated in 2009, must be paid by 14,470 property owners in low-lying areas that were inundated by the 1972 Agnes flood.

Ranging from $46.85 to $93.70 for residential properties and $225.48 to $676.44 for commercial, the fee is supposed to fund non-recreational levee maintenance costs, including work on pumping stations.

If everyone pays, the authority receives $1.38 million.

About 1.15 million, or 83 percent, was collected for 2009, Brozena said Tuesday.

Roughly $900,000 has been collected so far this year, he said.

The authority pays the Don Wilkinson Agency $33,900 to issue and process the bills and send out an initial delinquent notice, but the company was not hired to provide more extensive collection of unpaid bills, authority officials said.

Despite the uncollected bills, the authority had $307,000 in revenue left from 2009 because Brozena has been holding off on some levee maintenance, he said.

The authority also saved money in 2010 on overtime and pumping station operations because it was an “extremely dry year,” he said.

Brozena said he’s going to use the surplus next year to complete electrical and culvert inspections and survey the levee. The levee system must be certified in a year, he said.

“These things have to be done to meet U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requirements,” Brozena said.

Flood control maintenance costs will also rise next year because the giant Toby Creek impounding basin that prevents Pringle and Kingston from flooding will also be added to the levee system, Brozena told the authority.

The 2011 levee fee isn’t expected to increase, and bills should be mailed in May, he said.