web1_TTL091715HanoverGreenCemetery3.jpg

Board strives to maintain cemetery

Lackawanna County restaurant inspections: Sept. 4-11.

<p>Joel Lipperini has a deep attachment to Parsonage Street in Pittston and planned to buy a vacant lot that runs behind some of its properties in last month&#8217;s Luzerne County free-and-clear tax auction.</p><p>He gave up when someone else bid on the property because he didn&#8217;t want to get caught up in one of the sale&#8217;s many bidding wars.</p><p>But when Lipperini learned after the sale that his competition was a government entity &#8212; the city&#8217;s Redevelopment Authority &#8212; he made an unusual decision to speak out.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not politically minded. I run my own business and stay out of the spotlight, but this is not fair,&#8221; Lipperini said. &#8220;The public deserves a chance to buy this property without competition from groups that are publicly funded.&#8221;</p><p>Lipperini said he wanted the 0.31-acre sliver because he&#8217;s interested in buying one or more adjacent properties that would be enhanced by the additional space. He also considered chopping up the lot to provide several properties with larger back yards.</p><p>His purchase would have put the land in private ownership, which means he&#8217;d have to take care of it, accept liability and pay taxes on it.</p><p>&#8220;Now it&#8217;s a strip of land the authority must maintain, and it&#8217;s off the tax rolls,&#8221; Lipperini said.</p><p>Authority Executive Director Joe Chacke said he understands Lipperini&#8217;s concerns and said the authority wanted the lot because it may be used as parking for a future residential project.</p><p>The authority has discussed the possibility of acquiring a long-vacant, rundown brick school at the corner of Parsonage and Main streets that is privately owned to convert it into an elderly housing building, but the former school has very limited parking, Chacke said.</p><p>&#8220;In order to get tax credits and partners, we must get a certain amount of parking within walking distance. We&#8217;re trying to get site control so the school won&#8217;t have to be demolished, which would be a loss,&#8221; Chacke said.</p><p>Chacke said the school has many broken windows and is in &#8220;bad shape.&#8221;</p><p>The authority only pursues properties that are blighted or linked to other rehabilitation projects because it has limited funds and wants to limit competition with the private sector, he said.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t willy-nilly buy property without having a plan,&#8221; Chacke said.</p><p><strong>Open discussion</strong></p><p>The issue of government bidding involvement in tax sales will be debated by Luzerne County Council members Tuesday as part a request from the new North East Pennsylvania Land Bank Authority.</p><p>Officials from several Pittston area municipalities banded together to create the land bank to acquire and fix up or demolish eyesore properties that are dragging down neighborhoods.</p><p>However, land banks also have power to block out competition from other buyers at free-and-clear tax auctions.</p><p>Advocates say this trump bid power will prevent blighted properties from ending up in the hands of tax sale buyers who may not commit to needed repairs or demolition. Critics say the government shouldn&#8217;t interfere with open competition because many auction buyers fulfill their promise to use private funds to fix up properties.</p><p>Lipperini advises council to consider the ramifications, saying tax auctions have become an increasingly popular avenue for low-income citizens to obtain their first home or business. He spoke to several single mothers at the last auction who asked questions about the process because they planned to participate in the future.</p><p>The August auction drew an unprecedented crowd, prompting officials to move the sale into the courthouse rotunda so everyone could fit.</p><p>Echoing the sentiment of several frequent tax-sale buyers, Lipperini said he has no problem if land banks or other government entities buy &#8220;repository&#8221; properties that didn&#8217;t sell at public tax auctions.</p><p>&#8220;The reason I am speaking out is it seems this is going to be another back-door policy that is unfair to the public,&#8221; Lipperini said. &#8220;There are many people struggling day to day who should have access to these properties.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Compromise</strong></p><p>Chacke said the land bank has proposed a compromise to the county slated for discussion Tuesday.</p><p>The land bank would submit a list of properties it&#8217;s interested in at least 10 days before an auction. The council would then have up to seven days to review the land bank&#8217;s rationale and determine if a trump bid will be permitted.</p><p>&#8220;We keep saying that we&#8217;re only interested in the dogs of the dogs. We&#8217;re buying properties with missing windows and trees growing out of gutters &#8212; things that have no real value and have been problems for three to six years,&#8221; Chacke said.</p><p>The problem, Lipperini said, is that the county has no way of knowing if there are other prospective buyers or what they would do with properties using private funds.</p><p>He has an interest in Parsonage because his great-grandfather came from Italy and settled on the street, working as a blacksmith. He was born and raised in the neighborhood, and his parents still live on Parsonage. Lipperini, who previously operated an advertising agency, also has a garage and race car shop on Parsonage and races professionally.</p><p>Lipperini stressed his concern about open bidding is not a criticism of the revitalization work completed by the city and authority.</p><p>&#8220;They are doing a great job. I think Pittston is one of the nicest towns in the valley,&#8221; Lipperini said. &#8220;The city is amazing.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_taxsale01.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lipperini </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_taxsale01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lipperini </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_taxsale02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pittston businessman Joel Lipperini said he would have maintained and paid taxes on this lot if a city authority hadn&#8217;t purchased it at a recent back-tax auction. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_taxsale02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pittston businessman Joel Lipperini said he would have maintained and paid taxes on this lot if a city authority hadn&#8217;t purchased it at a recent back-tax auction. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Pittston businessman thinks practice is unfair to public</subheadMeta></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>

Pittston businessman questions government bidding at tax auctions