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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins look to stay hot over the 3-game weekend

Friday looms as important test of support for budget deal

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; More than 31 years after the city decided to sell a piece of land to hotelier Gus Genetti, it finally agreed to even though he&#8217;s built a parking lot on it and hasn&#8217;t paid taxes on it.City council Thursday night authorized the sale of the 0.77 acre parcel for $75,000 to uphold the agreement from Aug. 30, 1984.The sale was a last-minute addition to council&#8217;s regularly scheduled public meeting and passed unanimously 5-0.Mayor Tom Leighton said Genetti came to him recently after the city resolved longstanding litigation over properties owned by the defunct Wilkes-Barre Redevelopment Authority.&#8220;Technically it&#8217;s our property. Legally it&#8217;s our property. However, he has made significant improvements on the land the city was supposed to convey back in 1984, 85, 86 whenever that year was,&#8221; Leighton said.Under questioning from Councilman George Brown, Genetti said he had been paying the city an amount in lieu of taxes, but stopped that years ago. Genetti offered that he&#8217;s made $100,000 in improvements on the lot and that the hotel pays $49,000 in city property taxes and approximately $160,000 annually in city, Luzerne County and Wilkes-Barre Area school district taxes.&#8220;Right now it&#8217;s tax exempt. It&#8217;s owned by the city,&#8221; Genetti said.The piece in question was the site of the former Sunday Independent newspaper and the parking lot is located between the fence of the hotel&#8217;s swimming pool and CYC building on South Washington Street.Genetti appealed to council, saying he built his hotel, now known as the Best Western Plus Genetti Hotel &amp; Conference Center, in 1979 without any city, county or state assistance. In comparison the former Sheraton Crossgates built in 1981 received a $1.6 million loan plus 200 free parking spaces in perpetuity at the nearby parking garage owned by the city&#8217;s Parking Authority, he added. The property on Public Square became a Ramada Inn that was sold to King&#8217;s College and taken off the tax rolls.The city is making way for a $28 million hotel and conference center downtown in Keystone Opportunity Zone that will provide tax breaks for 10 years, Genetti also pointed out.&#8220;When you balance things out I think we&#8217;ve been good citizens and I&#8217;d appreciate any consideration,&#8221; he said.Council wasn&#8217;t willing to wait as long on creating the new Wilkes-Barre Sewer Authority. The idea was proposed back in June and council would not back a motion by councilman and mayor-elect Tony George to hold off for another two weeks in order to expand the authority makeup to nine from five members appointed by Leighton.&#8220;It appears that the minimum is five but there&#8217;s no maximum,&#8221; George said of the membership.Brown, who leaves council in January, pushed for the vote and did not want to leave it for the new council.&#8220;We&#8217;re here now. We should be taking the leadership in doing this,&#8221; he said.The ordinance creating the authority passed its second and final reading by a 4-1 vote with George the lone opponent. The authority members are Richard Muessig, Ann Toole, David Bertrum, attorney Charles McCormick and Joe Davis.In other business council approved:&#8226; The transfer of a restaurant liquor license from Plains Township for Hottle&#8217;s Restaurant on South Main Street&#8226; A contract with High Environmental Health &amp; Safety Consulting to provide accident and illness prevention as required by the state Bureau of Workers&#8217; Compensation for $5,316 annually&#8226; Accepting the lowest responsible bidder to be paid by the Office of Economic and Community Development funds to demolish properties at 333-335 East Northampton Street and 44-46 Terrace Street&#8226; The sale of 0.22 acres of vacant land located adjacent to Carey Avenue for $30,000 to MGC Partners.Leighton also announced that the city&#8217;s website at wilkes-barre.city has been updated.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jerry Lynottjlynott@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLNews</shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre honors 31-year-old contract to sell land