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WILKES-BARRE — City property owners won’t be asked to pay more next year in outgoing Mayor Tony George’s general fund budget.
George on Friday said there will be no property tax increase largely due to two downtown hotel projects.
“Those two alone will bring in a million dollars in permit fees,” George said.
Additionally, George said the mayor’s salary will reduced to $60,000 from the $82,000 budgeted this year in keeping with a promise by George Brown, who’s expected to take office in January.
Brown, who defeated George in the May Democratic mayoral primary, has no opposition on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. One of Brown’s campaign promises was to cut his salary and forgo health insurance, budgeted at $29,915 this year for the mayor.
George said he will present his proposed 2020 budget on 11 a.m. Tuesday in city council chambers on the fourth-floor of City Hall. The budget presentation, due by Oct. 15 in accordance with the City Charter, is open to the public.
Without a tax increase the millage will remain at 141.33 mills, where it’s been since 2017 when it was raised 19.7 mills. A mill is a $1 tax on every $1,000 of assessed property value. Wilkes-Barre is the only one of the 76 municipalities in Luzerne County that has its own assessments.
As he did in this year’s balanced $50.4 million budget George relied on a one-time revenue source to avoid a tax increase for next year.
The project proposed by Sphere International LLC for the corner of West Northampton and South Main streets is expected to be the first of the two downtown developments to get underway.
Demolition of buildings the New Jersey-based developer bought should be completed by Christmas of this year, City Administrator Rick Gazenski told city council at its Thursday night meeting.
The high-rise structure proposed for the site includes a hotel, retail space and residential units.
Gateway Center Associates proposed a similar mixed-use project for the former Hotel Sterling site on the corner of West Market and North River streets. A four-story hotel with 83 units, an eight-story building with 33-market rate residences above the hotel’s two story conference center, a restaurant and commercial space make up the estimated $32 million project.
The state authorized $15 million in its 2017-2018 capital budget for the project. In July the state approved a $2 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant in July for Gateway Center Associates, headed by Hysni Syla, a Kosovo native who’s developed local properties including the former Wyoming National Bank building on West Market Street into the Vault restaurant and apartments.
The terms of the May 2018 sales agreement included a reverter clause that set a 24-month deadline from closing date for the developer to obtain approvals from the Wilkes-Barre Planning Commission and Zoning Board. If the deadline is not met, the city can buy back the property at 90% of the $600,000 sale price of the property, or $540,000.
Once those approvals are issued the developer has another 24 months to obtain an approved construction plan, construction permits and complete construction. If those conditions are not met, the city can exercise is buy-back option.
