Wilkes-Barre City Council members attend Thursday’s regular meeting.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
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WILKES-BARRE — Thursday’s regular council meeting was short but contentious as several residents voiced concerns over various agenda items, including the two re-appointments to the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority.
Council Member Mike Belusko and Philip Latinski were both re-appointed to the board. Belusko abstained from the vote for his own re-appointment, and Chairperson Bill Barrett was absent.
Both terms are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2028.
City resident Sam Troy, a frequent attendee of city council meetings, took issue with both Belusko’s re-appointment and Latinski’s, arguing that they shouldn’t be on the board if they couldn’t do something to stop the stormwater tax, which is a quarterly fee paid to the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority by both residential and commercial property owners for stormwater management.
The tax — which is commonly referred to as a ‘rain tax’ by critics — is used to fund a variety of projects, including those that reduce pollution and flooding.
Troy, who has frequently spoken out against the stormwater tax, said the amount he pays is a burden to him and other residents. He also wanted to know how much progress the authority has made in its mitigation efforts.
Vice Chair Tony Brooks, who led the meeting in Chairman Bill Barrett’s absence, pointed out that WVSA did a presentation during the work session on Tuesday regarding its current and upcoming projects.
“That would have answered all of your questions,” Brooks said.
In response, Troy said, “I heard part of it. I didn’t hear the whole thing.”
Addressing Troy’s criticism, Belusko pointed out that the stormwater fee was federally mandated and that because WVSA handles the tax for 32 municipalities, the cost is significantly lower than it would have been if the city managed it by themselves.
“If the city had to do it on their own, the fee would have been around $400 per resident,” Belusko said.
Troy, as well as another resident, Jason Carr, also took issue with Belusko’s supposed absence from numerous meetings this past year.
Belusko said he was unable to attend some meetings in person because he was in the hospital, but he still attended via phone.
Carr, presumably reading from a printed copy of the WVSA meeting minutes, listed off six meetings that Belusko was marked absent from.
However, according to the minutes, which are available on the WVSA website, out of the 10 board meetings listed from October 2023 to September 2024, Belusko was absent for four in October 2023, November 2023, February 2024 and March 2024.
He was present for the other six board meetings listed, three of which he attended via phone call.
Carr stated that Belusko did not attend a June or August 2024 board meeting. According to the WVSA website calendar, no board meetings were scheduled for those months.
According to the minutes on the website, he did attend via phone call one of two meetings listed for June, which was an Operations and Infrastructure Committee Meeting.
He doesn’t appear to be a part of the Stormwater Committee, which was the other meeting listed.
He was also not listed as being a member of the Executive Committee and thus, did not attend that meeting in August.
Carr asked if Belusko would be able to “articulate” why he thought he should be put back on the board, but Belusko did not make any further comment on the matter.
Also at the meeting, the board approved the sale of 2024 outstanding tax claims, as well as the anticipated 2025 and 2026 tax claims, to the Wilkes-Barre Financial Authority.