Dallas City News

Luzerne County Council unanimously voted Tuesday to grant a real estate tax break, advance planning for the Nanticoke/West Nanticoke Bridge project and earmark $1 million in opioid litigation settlement funds.

County Councilman Chris Perry had described the tax break as a “unique plan” because developer Hillwood Properties will make four payments in lieu of taxes to the county totaling $945,000.

Hillwood also expects to spend $10 million to make the 360-acre, coal mine-scarred site suitable for constructing four buildings. Located along Route 309 in Hazle Township, the site contains waste ponds, deep open pits and multiple levels of subsurface mines.

Hillwood will receive 100% county real estate tax forgiveness on new construction the first seven years, a 90% discount in the eighth year, 80% in the ninth and 70% in the tenth and final year. The owner will continue paying taxes on the land throughout the break because the forgiveness applies only to new construction.

Bridge

The county must start from scratch in determining a solution for the deteriorated, county-owned Nanticoke/West Nanticoke Bridge over the Susquehanna River because $10 million in federal funding has been allocated to the project through the state, officials said.

The regimented process involving the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will start with a search for an engineer that must come up with three options.

Three options already were presented for the bridge by Alfred Benesch and Associates, which had been hired by the county before federal funding was involved to determine the “best and most economical option.” Benesch’s work thus far cannot be applied to the final project because the selection process for the engineer must go through the PennDOT procurement system due to the county’s receipt of the $10 million, officials said.

Benesch originally recommended largely replacing the existing bridge but later advocated construction of a new bridge to the west. A third full rehabilitation option was presented but not recommended.

The county’s only other funding source for the bridge is a $55 million casino gambling fund established for county infrastructure.

County council will still have final say on which option is selected, county Manager Romilda Crocamo said Tuesday.

Constructed in 1914, the bridge connecting Nanticoke and the West Nanticoke section of Plymouth Township was last rehabilitated in 1987. The weight limit of the bridge was reduced to 5 tons in May, which allows passenger vehicles but not fire trucks and emergency rescue vehicles.

Opioid earmark

The $1 million opioid settlement earmarks will expand these existing programs: medication-assisted treatment at the prison, $625,404; warm hand-off and certified recovery specialist services, $208,468; and school opioid prevention education programs, $208,468.

These allocations were recommended by the county’s Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement.

The county is expected to receive $25 million over 18 years from the state’s settlement against opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors, and $1 million had to be programmed by the end of this month so it doesn’t have to be returned.

Statue restoration

Council also unanimously approved the use of $48,610 in county natural-gas recreation funding to restore the statue of Ellen Webster Palmer so it can be returned to the county courthouse lawn.

The 1,200-pound marble statue, which depicts Palmer flanked by a breaker boy and young miner, has significant damage caused by weather, acid rain exposure, vandalism and other factors, officials said. It was moved off site around 2007. Palmer established the Boys’ Industrial Association in Wilkes-Barre in the 1890s to educate and provide social activities for working children. She spent evenings teaching boys after they labored at coal mines during the day.

Study commission

Council unanimously agreed to introduce a budget ordinance that would allocate $75,000 from the reserve fund to cover 2024 expenses of the county’s Government Study Commission.

A public hearing and final vote would be necessary at a future meeting for the allocation to take effect.

Authorized by county April 23 primary election voters, the commission will have nine months to report findings and recommendations and another nine months if it is opting to prepare and submit government changes. An extra two months is allowable if the commission is recommending electing council by district instead of at large.

Voters must ultimately approve any commission recommendation for it to take effect.

Some study commission members expressed concerns Tuesday that the commission would still have to go through the county’s bill approval process, jeopardizing its independence. Crocamo said there won’t be interference in the payment of study commission bills.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.