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<p>Luzerne County spent most of the $1.25 million budgeted for assessment appeals, which will put the county in a bind if it is hit with more big-ticket refunds the last five months of the year, records show.</p><p>The county had around $13,000 left for refunds at the end of June, but another $8,800 in refunds are awaiting payment for July, records show.</p><p>County Budget/Finance Division Head Brian Swetz said the remaining $4,400 &#8220;clearly&#8221; won&#8217;t be enough to cover refunds for the rest of the year. However, he said he has no definitive means to predict if he will need hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to get through the year.</p><p>He is working with the county assessor&#8217;s office and Assistant Solicitor David Schwager, who handles court-level assessment mediation challenges, to come up with projections on how much money will be needed to cover likely refunds the rest of this year and in 2016.</p><p>Swetz said he plans to present his findings to council at the Aug. 25 mid-year budget report.</p><p>&#8220;Refunds are going to be one of the hot-button budgetary items,&#8221; Swetz said. &#8220;I&#8217;d like to know our exposure.&#8221;</p><p>Part of the problem stems from the continued settlement of larger commercial appeals that were filed several years ago, some at the time of the 2009 countywide reassessment. Property owners who obtain assessment reductions receive refunds for overpayments dating back to the filing of their appeals.</p><p>Some of these older challenges also have stalled, which may prompt county officials to schedule a court proceeding requiring the property owners to inform the court if they intend to proceed or withdraw their cases.</p><p>The county was in the same boat struggling to pay refunds last year, when it inadvertently failed to include any money for refunds in the budget. The administration stopped paying refunds around May 2014, hoping the 2015 allocation of $1.25 million would cover both the overdue payments and new refunds awarded in 2015.</p><p>The most recent refunds included a combined $20,851 for 24 properties owned by William and Margaret Sordoni, Sterling Farms Inc. and other similarly-named entities based at the same Forty Fort address, county records show. The refund dated back to 2009.</p><p>The combined assessment of the 24 mostly vacant tracts in Harveys Lake and Dallas Township was reduced from $2.76 million to $1.76 million, property records show. The properties total 895 acres.</p><p>Fairchild Semiconductor in the Crestwood Industrial Park in Wright Township received an $8.7 million assessment reduction in May, resulting in a $12,874 county tax refund that must be paid dating back to 2012, officials said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Swetz </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_swetz.jpg</photo0><caption0>Swetz </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County struggling to budget assessment refunds