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Graphic photos lead off testimony at Luzerne County double-homicide trial

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Problems continue to mount for Flood, Rutgers

<p>The Wyoming Valley levee fee won&#8217;t increase this year, but the 14,200 Luzerne County property owners who pay the fee should expect a hike in 2016, officials said.</p><p>County Flood Protection Authority members cancelled consideration of an increase Tuesday, saying they wanted to give fee payers more time to prepare, particularly the elderly on fixed incomes. Bills for the 2015 fee will be issued Oct. 1.</p><p>&#8220;I just felt it wasn&#8217;t fair to those people to just whack them with a bill that had an increase this year,&#8221;authority Chairman Kevin O&#8217;Brien said Tuesday.</p><p>The fee is the authority&#8217;s only revenue stream to fulfill its mission of maintaining the 16-mile flood control system so it&#8217;s ready for deployment when the Susquehanna River rises.</p><p>Based on the assessment of structures, not land, the fee ranges from $46.85 to $93.70 for residential properties and $93.70 to $676.44 for commercial, industrial and tax-exempt properties.</p><p>The fee has not increased since it was implemented in 2009, when county officials decided the financially challenged county should not continue funding levee maintenance. The fee is imposed on levee-protected properties impacted by the 1972 Agnes Flood.</p><p>An increase will be needed because the fee generates $1.14 million annually, while the authority&#8217;s expenses have been around $1.4 million, said authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman.</p><p>Authority member Douglas Ayers stressed there are no other options to fun levee maintenance.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t have a choice. We&#8217;re forced by the government to assign a fee by people behind that wall, so we&#8217;re stuck,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Board member John Maday said the levee held up during record flooding in 2011, and fee payers will be relieved it has been properly maintained when the water rises again.</p><p>Around $2 billion in structures are in the zone covered by the fee, Belleman said.</p><p>&#8220;People forget about the significance of the wall when some time passes with no flood event,&#8221; Maday said. &#8220;This is an insurance policy no one ever wants to use.&#8221;</p><p>The authority has about $1.3 million in fee revenue in the bank, but Belleman said this reserve must be kept and increased to fund emergency flood response &#8212; such as sand for sand bags and the rental of a crane to install flood gates &#8212; in addition to capital repairs required to keep the levee certified.</p><p>Several costly capital improvement projects were put on hold while the legality of the levee fee was challenged, he said. A county judge ruled the fee was allowable in December.</p><p>These pending capital projects include:</p><p>&#8226; The replacement of six larger mowers that are more than a decade old, including three currently in the shop for repairs.</p><p>&#8226; Filling in or adding less labor-intensive flood closure structures at some of the more than 20 levee openings, particularly two at abandoned railroad sites. If approved by the federal government, the authority must shoulder the local match, which is usually 25 percent of the cost.</p><p>&#8226; Adding more railing to keep damaging unauthorized vehicles and other trespassers off land that is part of the levee system.</p><p>&#8226; The purchase and repair of an old storage building in Hanover Township to hold levee-related equipment needed on that stretch.</p><p>Thousands of dollars also must be spent pruning and tearing out vegetation that has grown too close to the levee wall in the area of Riverside Drive and West River Street in Wilkes-Barre, he said. A weed blanket and mulch will be substituted in some spots to reduce maintenance.</p><p>Expenses also may rise as the authority separates from county government.</p><p>The authority has been reimbursing the county about $50,000 annually for office space in the engineering department, storage in county-owned buildings, utilities and assistance from county staffers, including budget/finance and human resources, Belleman said.</p><p>The cost securing leasing space and other services independently won&#8217;t be finalized for months. Authority members are still discussing options for a new office location.</p><p>The authority will have more concrete figures to present to fee payers in 2016 when an increase is revisited, officials said.</p><p>Fee payers will be alerted about the possible 2016 increase in a letter with the upcoming bills. The communication also will explain the basis for the fee, largely because about 1,000 properties change hands in the Agnes zone annually, resulting in some newcomers who aren&#8217;t familiar with it, Belleman said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Belleman </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_Belleman-Chris1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Belleman </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>

No Wyoming Valley levee fee increase — for now