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After more than three years of waiting, Carl Bloom has received a buyout offer for his flood-damaged Nescopeck home.
The 57-year-old has been living with his mother since the brick rancher he occupied for 33 years was submerged by record Susquehanna River flooding in September 2011.
Bloom said he needs the buyout proceeds to close out his $26,000 outstanding mortgage and purchase another home from a friend outside the flood zone. He was informed this week the closing on his buyout could occur as soon as May.
“It sounds encouraging, but it’s difficult for me to get my hopes up after all I’ve been through,” Bloom said.
His gutted home is among 75 Luzerne County properties in a follow-up buyout program set up by the county’s Community Development Office using a special federal allocation to fix lingering damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in 2011.
The county has been criticized for delays in releasing this money, but the county administration said the earmark was intended as a last resort for projects that couldn’t obtain other flood recovery funding.
In recent months municipalities have been identifying properties for the buyout and completing appraisals and title searches, said county Community Development Director Andrew Reilly. Office representatives recently started meeting with eligible participants to present purchase offers, he said.
Municipalities decide which eligible homes participate because the land becomes municipal property that must remain undeveloped after dwellings are demolished, Reilly said. The other buyout properties are in West Pittston, Shickshinny and six townships — Conyngham, Jenkins, Nescopeck, Plains, Hunlock and Plymouth, he said.
His office set aside about $10 million of the $25.4 million federal allocation to fund buyout purchases and demolition after a request from some municipalities and residents.
Around 100 county homes were in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s initial 2011 flood buyout, and many have been demolished.
However, Bloom was among 40 property owners knocked out of that buyout program in 2013 because new federal flood maps concluded their structures were not in high-risk flood zones, officials said. Another 33 properties were in the zone but disqualified due to the extent of damage.
“There was a significant unmet need,” Reilly said.
The remaining federal allocation will fund flood-related infrastructure repairs in multiple municipalities, with most ready to go out to bid and start construction this spring, he said.
As in other buyouts, property owners are free to accept or decline to participate in the community development program based on pre-flood, appraisal offers, Reilly said. More homes may be added if property owners drop out, he said.
Bloom declined to disclose his offer amount but said it was “reasonable.”
His gripe: $5,300 in back taxes and penalties from 2013 and 2014 will be deducted from the amount he receives at closing.
He had obtained an assessment reduction in 2011 for flood-damaged homes but didn’t realize it was temporary. The county assessor’s office said the catastrophic loss reductions had to be temporary by law, and notices were sent to impacted property owners before their values reverted back to the original assessments in 2012.
Bloom and some others said they did not recall receiving such a notice.
Bloom, who lost his home-based business due to the flood, said he used a credit card to pay his $2,000 taxes for 2012 so he wouldn’t lose the property in a back-tax auction.
He filed an assessment appeal last year that reduced his 2015 taxes but said he was informed there’s no way to apply the new value retroactively to lower what he owes for 2013 and 2014.
If all goes as planned, Bloom said he will watch the demolition of his long-time residence with sadness.
“It’s hard because I had so many good memories there. I thought I would be there the rest of my life.”