Meeting set on planned levee fee

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

Luzerne County residents will get a chance to weigh in on a controversial proposed levee maintenance fee at a public meeting April 1.

The county Flood Protection Authority is required by law to hold a public meeting before enacting such a fee.

Authority board members agreed Tuesday to hold the meeting at 6 p.m. at Luzerne County Community College’s Educational Conference Center in Nanticoke. County officials will explain the budgetary problems that led to the fee and outline the fee structure.

The authority also voted Tuesday to advertise for a company to handle fee billing and collection.

An estimated 15,300 property owners in 12 municipalities would pay the annual fee, which will likely range from $30 to $60 for a $100,000 property and double that for a $200,000 property.

The 15,300 properties fall in the area inundated by Hurricane Agnes in 1972.

County officials proposed the fee to generate up to $1.9 million to offset the county’s burden of operating and maintaining the levee and pumping stations.

Fee supporters argue that direct beneficiaries should pay for the flood protection, but critics say all property owners should bear the cost because flooding would hurt the county as a whole.

Swoyersville property owner Bob Gorda spoke against the fee during Tuesday’s meeting and said he will challenge it again at the April 1 meeting.

Authority members told Gorda the county has no other option to obtain the funding because the county’s property tax revenue increase was limited to 10 percent the first year after reassessment. Commissioners stripped levee maintenance from the 2009 county budget, leaving it up to the flood authority to come up with the money through a fee.

The three commissioners, planning/zoning director and assistant engineer sit on the flood authority.

Gorda questioned whether the fee will be eliminated in 2010, when the 10-percent cap is lifted.

Authority Chairman Stephen A. Urban said the Board of Commissioners will have to decide whether to reabsorb the expense into the county’s general fund operating budget.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.