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Letter to the Editor: Senate candidate Katie McGinty rates low on authenticity

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Kingston officials vow to clean up arson-damaged home on North Gates Avenue

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The city&#8217;s general fund budget surplus grew to more than $8.5 million in May, continuing a steady month-to-month increase from the start of the year.</p><p>A draft financial report showed the city collected $23.3 million in revenue through the first five months of the year, compared to $14.8 million in expenses. A month earlier, the city reported a surplus of approximately $8 million, according to the draft released by Mayor Tony George.</p><p>The city is operating on a $51.5 million balanced budget that does not include a property tax hike, but contains revenue entries that George has said concern him. Upon taking office in January, he attempted to amend the budget left by his predecessor, Tom Leighton, by raising the millage rate 25 mills at first, and then dropping it to 20 mills and reducing the revenue amounts to keep them in line with historical data. The millage rate stands at 121.63 mills. A mill is a $1 tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value.</p><p>Taxes have driven the increase, with the two largest revenue items close to last year&#8217;s collections. Combined, the property and earned income taxes amounted to approximately $23 million of the $28.2 million in this year&#8217;s budget. Salaries and benefits, including pensions, totalled $31.6 million and made up the majority of expenses. Debt service of $10.5 million also is factored into the expense side of the budget.</p><p>According to the draft report, the city collected approximately $8.6 million in property taxes, or nearly 85 percent of the $10.1 million budgeted. For the same time period last year, the city collected $9 million of the $10.1 million budgeted.</p><p>Approximately $6 million, or almost half of the $12.7 million budgeted for the Earned Income Tax was collected, according to the May draft report. During the first five months of last year, the city collected $5.2 million of the $12.6 million budgeted for the EIT, imposed on residents at a rate of 3 percent of their earned income.</p><p>However, the nearly 2-percent collection rate of the delinquent business privilege tax, one of the line items that concerned George, lagged behind that of the property tax and EIT. The budget contained a $350,000 revenue entry for the collection of the delinquent tax, but just $6,437 was recorded as of the May draft report, which was unchanged from April&#8217;s numbers for that item.</p><p>The budget contains a $1 million revenue line item for the sale of city property, but only $13,975, or 1.4 percent, has been collected, according to the May draft. The city anticipates selling three parcels downtown for $500,000 for a proposed $28 million hotel and conference center. The deal is structured so that the city is paid $250,000 the first year and $50,000 for each of the following five years.</p><p>So far this year, none of the expected $250,000 in delinquent magistrate fines has been collected. It was included as a new revenue source in the budget, but among those that George viewed as unrealistic.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre budget surplus exceeds $8.5 million through the end of May