Wilkes-Barre Mayor George C. Brown speaks during Thursday night’s city council meeting in Wilkes-Barre City Hall.
Hannah Simerson | Times Leader
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WILKES-BARRE — Property transfers, stormwater fees, Mayor Brown’s 2024 budget and more were items of discussion during Thursday night’s city council meeting, despite having just one agenda item.
The sole item on council’s agenda sought authorization for the sale of a lot on Charles Street to Richard Weidler, the lot’s adjoining property owner, for just $250.
Weidler, who has been taking care of the small parcel of land for years, approached the city about purchasing it to incorporate into his property and increase his yard size.
Although the sale was approved by council, Wilkes-Barre resident Sam Troy voiced his concern surrounding the handling of such transactions in the city.
“There seems to be a lack of transparency regarding land and property transactions,” Troy said. “If I had known there was a $250 lot for sale on Charles Street, I might’ve been interested or somebody else might’ve been.”
Troy questioned how the city came into acquisition of the land, as well as why the purchase was not open to the public.
According to City Attorney Tim Henry, it’s standard practice for the city to sell parcels in smaller neighborhoods to adjoining property owners as often as possible. Doing so alleviates pressure on the city to take care of the otherwise empty lots, which become a maintenance liability, he said.
“There’s really no benefit to the city owning properties, especially properties like these because then we have to maintain them,” Henry said.
“The grass gets high and we just don’t have enough people to take care of all these parcels, so it’s a win for us all the way around. It’s back on the tax rolls and it doesn’t have to be maintained by us through the taxpayers, so those are the things we look at most when we’re selling city properties,” he added.
As far as acquiring the property, Henry says it’s likely the city has owned it for decades after new lots were carved out in South Wilkes-Barre following the Agnes flood in 1972.
Brown’s budget
Also during the meeting, Troy questioned several aspects of Mayor George C. Brown’s 2024 budget, which was approved by council last month.
Troy asked why the city did not take out a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN), a loan repaid with future tax collections, for the upcoming year.
“The fact that you didn’t draw out a TAN says to me that the city is on pretty strong financial footing — is this the case?” Troy asked council and Mayor Brown.
Brown rose to answer Troy’s questions, noting that this will be the second year that the city has not taken out the loan.
“Last year we didn’t take one out and saved roughly $60,000. This year we did not take one out and, with the current interest rates, we saved over $120,000 by not borrowing that money because we didn’t feel we need it,” Brown said.
“If you’re asking how the city is doing, the city is making sure that we provide the services that we have to provide for the residents and the business owners and we’re happy to do that without a tax or fee increase again and without the necessity of taking out a Tax Anticipation Note,” he added.
Councilman Tony Brooks also spoke in support of Brown’s budget, citing the lack of a TAN as evidence of better fiscal management.
“I would suppose the fact that we don’t need a TAN is because we’ve done a better job allocating cash so that it flows much better,” Brooks said.
Aside from the TAN, Troy brought attention to a section of the budget that anticipates an approximate $50,000 increase from the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority financial administration in 2024.
According to Troy, portions of the stormwater fee — commonly dubbed the rain tax by critics — go back to municipalities in addition to the separate sewer fees in place for the City of Wilkes-Barre residents.
“I think it’s terrible that we have to pay a sewer fee and the city is getting back a few hundred thousand dollars of the stormwater fee that we shouldn’t even have to pay in the first place,” Troy said.
“I know it’s a federal mandate but that doesn’t mean that the burden should have to fall on the taxpayers.”