Luzerne County Courthouse
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Bidders purchased 57 of 70 properties listed in last week’s Luzerne County free-and-clear delinquent tax auction, according to county tax-claim operator Elite Revenue Solutions LLC.
The sale generated more than $750,500, which includes transfer taxes, said Elite representative Sean Shamany. The money will be disbursed to the county and the school districts and municipalities where the sold properties were located.
Properties that don’t sell at first-stage upset auction advance to a free-and-clear/judicial sale, when all liens and delinquent taxes are forgiven unless bidding competition drives up the purchase price to cover some or all of that debt.
Eight of the unsold properties had attracted bidders who never returned to pay for their purchases, Shamany said. These bidders will be banned from future sales.
Overdose deaths
With two months left to track, it appears the county has exceeded last year’s drug overdose death count.
Through the end of October, the county had 116 confirmed overdose deaths and another 16 likely cases awaiting toxicology testing results, according to the latest monthly division head report.
If that count of 132 holds up, it exceeds the 128 overdose deaths in the county for 2019.
Most of these deaths are related to opioids and the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, the coroner’s office has said.
County Coroner Frank Hacken has cited increased toxicology and autopsy expenses as the main reasons he is seeking an additional $87,180 next year, which would bring his office budget to $635,810.
Election meetings
The five-member county Election Board is set to meet at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
According to the agenda, the board plans to discuss issues related to the Nov. 3 general election, including poll worker training and staffing shortages and the addition of signs to avoid voters standing in the wrong line at polling places with multiple precincts under the same roof.
The agenda also includes a discussion about comparing the number of voters recorded in poll books at Election Day sign-in to the number of ballots scanned, which could help determine the potential number of voters who left polling places with their ballot printouts instead of feeding them into tabulators as required so they could be counted.
Instructions to access the virtual meeting are posted under the authorities/boards/commissions online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.
On Thursday, county council’s Election Inquiry Committee is set to hold a virtual meeting at 4:30 p.m. A link to attend that meeting is posted under council’s public meetings online section at luzernecounty.org.
Citizen death
Ed Chesnovitch, a past fixture at many county government meetings, has died.
In 2008, Chesnovitch and Walter Griffith had teamed up without legal representation to successfully challenge a county filing seeking court approval to borrow $17 million to cover unpaid bills. Their objections helped to convince then-county judge Ann Lokuta to lower the county’s permissible borrowing to $5.3 million.
Now a county councilman, Griffith said Chesnovitch was a “wonderful people’s advocate” and very involved in providing input on the county’s home rule government that took effect in 2012. Chesnovitch also fought for a copy of the home rule charter preamble to be hung in the council meeting room and had a slogan — “Thank you, next” — whenever he felt council was not sufficiently responsive to his public comment, said Griffith.
”Ed Chesnovitch will be greatly missed by all that were his friends and all that worked hard with him for a better Luzerne County government,” Griffith said in a statement.
Citizen Brian Shiner said Chesnovitch also worked with him and others to publicly question problems with the countywide reassessment that took effect in 2009.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.