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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The sale of a vacant, city-owned lot on Scott Street near the Cross Valley Expressway left Sam Troy wondering if it was worth more than the $45,000 asking price.</p><p>During a public meeting Thursday night, council approved selling the 3.06-acre lot to Michael J. Prushinski.</p><p>But Troy, a resident who frequently attends the meetings with questions about finances, wanted to know how the prices of city-owned land were arrived at and how the public could find out about property for sale.</p><p>&#8220;These arbitrary figures are disturbing,&#8221; Troy said.</p><p>The lot had been advertised on the city&#8217;s website for a negotiable price and Prushinski was interested. City assessor John Anstett determined the value of the lot and Prushinski offered to buy it, explained Ted Wampole, city administrator.</p><p>&#8220;I come from the school that that&#8217;s a good deal,&#8221; Wampole said.</p><p>Troy expressed his disappointment that Wampole was the only member of Mayor Tony George&#8217;s administration to attend the meeting. The mayor doesn&#8217;t usually attend. And in March, he changed his position on attendance by department heads, saying they were subjected to abuse and harassment from the public.</p><p>&#8220;This is getting more and more to look like a farce,&#8221; Troy said.</p><p>He asked council to do what it can to have department heads attend at least one meeting a month. He further said he was concerned about &#8220;the looming financial catastrophe&#8221; facing the city.</p><p>He asked for suggestions from the three of five council members present &#8212; Beth Gilbert, Tony Brooks and Mike Merritt &#8212; on how to avoid the crisis and if they would support a property tax increase next year to follow this year&#8217;s hike. Councilmen Bill Barrett and Mike Belusko were excused from the meeting.</p><p>&#8220;I paid an extra 60 bucks,&#8221; Troy said.</p><p>He suggested cutting expenses and raising the mercantile and business privilege taxes to take the burden off property owners.</p><p>Gilbert and Brooks said they did not favor a property tax increase. Merritt did not comment.</p><p>In other business:</p><p>&#8226; Lisa Patterson asked for help finding 29-year-old son Yiear West who&#8217;s been missing since Dec.9.</p><p>&#8220;As of today&#8217;s date, there&#8217;s no sign of my son. I don&#8217;t know how to go about locating my son,&#8221; Patterson told council.</p><p>Police have opened a missing person&#8217;s case on West.</p><p>For other local news stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/local" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Resident questions WB council on $45K sale of city-owned lot </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_WB-City-logo-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Resident questions WB council on $45K sale of city-owned lot </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<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>

Resident questions sale of WB-owned property for $45K