Flood-control fee gets court airing

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.comStaff Writer

WILKES-BARRE – Kingston officials on Wednesday asked a judge to prevent the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority from implementing a new Wyoming Valley levee fee, arguing that it should be applied more broadly.

A hearing on the request for an injunction to stop implementation of the fee began Wednesday and is expected to conclude on Friday.

Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph Musto heard opening statements from attorneys and testimony from Kingston Mayor James Haggerty, Kingston public works supervisor Robert Granick and real estate broker and certified appraiser Jay Crossin.

Kingston Solicitor Harry P. Mattern began by summarizing the case.

The authority adopted the fee in April on 15,300 properties in low-lying areas that were inundated by the Agnes Flood in 1972.

The municipality of Kingston and some private citizens filed a lawsuit on June 26 challenging the fee.

County officials voted earlier this month to proceed with collection of the new fee, despite the lawsuit challenging it.

The injunction request asks the court to require the authority to “act in a responsible manner” by not incurring the expense of mailing bills on an “illegal fee.”

An injunction is necessary, Mattern said, to avoid “inconvenience and financial hardship” to the plaintiffs and damage to the property values of those impacted by the fee.

Allowing the authority to collect the fee before the lawsuit is resolved could cause “irreparable harm” to residents, whose ability to sell a home in the flood plain could be hampered because of a perception caused by the imposition of the fee.

First to testify was Haggerty, who spent about an hour describing stormwater flow from the Back Mountain, through Swoyersville, Kingston and Edwardsville until it is pumped into the Susquehanna River.

Haggerty later said he was trying to make the point that various pump stations on the West Side service municipalities other than those in the flood plain, and it’s unfair that people from those municipalities would pay no fee, even though their stormwater is being funneled through the flood protection system.

He also testified that imposing fees only on certain properties in the county “adds to the perception that there is a higher flood risk” than actually exists.

On cross-examination, attorney Bob Gawlas, of Rosenn, Jenkins and Greenwald, asked Haggerty to point out any flood protection facilities that protect residents of the Back Mountain from flooding. Haggerty could not.

Haggerty also confirmed under questioning that Kingston residents saw an ultimate reduction in taxes after the Flood Protection Authority took over operating the pump station in Kingston.

Granick basically confirmed Haggerty’s testimony on the stormwater flow.

Crossin testified that imposing a flood protection fee on certain properties would “scare a lot of people off” from buying those properties.

Testimony is expected to wrap up with authority director Jim Brozena when the hearing reconvenes at 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.