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H.S. boys basketball: Trojans defeat Grenadiers to clinch division title

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Girls Basketball: Julia Makowski, Crestwood take control of WVC Division 1

<p>County and municipal real estate tax bills were not mailed to Hazle Township property owners this week after it emerged that newly elected tax collector Ryan DeCosmo hasn&#8217;t been properly bonded.</p><p>Bonds protect taxing bodies and property owners if real estate tax payments are lost or stolen.</p><p>DeCosmo turned in a bond issued to his father and previous tax collector, Michael DeCosmo, who currently serves as Luzerne County Democratic Party chairman.</p><p>County Controller Michelle Bednar released an audit Friday concluding the bond is invalid, saying state law requires bonds to be issued in an elected collector&#8217;s own name.</p><p>Other county officials said they believed the matter will be resolved as soon as possible, and that township residents will not suffer as a result.</p><p>Ryan DeCosmo could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.</p><p>Michael DeCosmo said his bond costs the three taxing bodies approximately $10,000 combined annually, and a bond for his son would cost about three or four times more based on Ryan&#8217;s age, mortgage, student loans and income. Michael DeCosmo is approaching his mid-60s, and his son is in his 30s.</p><p>He said three attorneys &#8212; county Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo, county Manager C. David Pedri and Chris Slusser, the solicitor for both Hazle Township and the Hazleton Area School District &#8212; concluded it would be permissible for his son to submit a bond in the father&#8217;s name while the son continued to shop around for a better price.</p><p>DeCosmo said the township can temporarily appoint him as tax collector if there&#8217;s a concern, because his family is trying to help taxpayers and not force taxing bodies to pay more for his son to hold the seat.</p><p>He said he was &#8220;shocked and outraged&#8221; over the audit.</p><p>&#8220;I think this is a political ploy on Bednar&#8217;s part,&#8221; Michael DeCosmo said. &#8220;Michele Bednar has been upset with me as county chair and others in the party since the person she supported for county council in the May primary &#8212; Dave Popiak &#8212; was defeated.&#8221;</p><p>Bednar said her review was not personal.</p><p>&#8220;I was put in office to do my job,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The law is black and white. The elected tax collector needs to be bonded in the tax collector&#8217;s name.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8216;A slight delay&#8217;</strong></p><p>Hints of a problem surfaced Friday afternoon, when the county treasurer&#8217;s office issued its annual release about the mailing of 2018 county/municipal tax bills.</p><p>The release said Hazle Township tax bills will be delayed approximately two weeks but did not state a reason.</p><p>In a follow-up call, Laura Beers, the county treasurer&#8217;s office manager and tax administrator, said the reason was a bonding issue, but she referred further questions to the county solicitor.</p><p>Crocamo said the county did not receive a bond from Ryan DeCosmo and that she expects the matter will be remedied in two weeks.</p><p>The tax bills mailed this week will have a Feb. 12 issue date and can be paid at a 2 percent discount through April 11, the county&#8217;s release said. A 10 percent penalty will be added for those paid after June 11, it said.</p><p>Rebate and penalty dates for Hazle Township property owners will be announced when the municipality&#8217;s tax bills are mailed, county officials said.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a slight delay. It&#8217;s going to be resolved,&#8221; Crocamo said, stressing township residents won&#8217;t lose the opportunity to pay taxes at discounted rates.</p><p><strong>Next steps</strong></p><p>Elected collectors have until March 15 to file a bond in the county Clerk of Courts office under the law, Bednar said. Municipalities can appoint another collector if the elected one fails to furnish a bond, the law states.</p><p>Hazle Township Supervisor Chairman Jim Montone said Friday he is reviewing the matter with solicitor Slusser.</p><p>Bednar&#8217;s audit, posted at <a href="http://www.luzernecounty.org/uploads/images/assets/county/row_offices/controller/2018/Compliance%20Review%20of%20Tax%20Collector%20Bonds%202018.pdf" target="_blank">www.luzernecounty.org</a>, cites a section of state law that says the elected collector &#8220;shall enter into one surety bond to the Commonwealth for all taxes to be collected by him.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;This statute clearly states that it is the tax collector who is to be bonded, not a substitute. To further prove this point, the deputy tax collector (if one is appointed) falls under the umbrella of the tax collector&#8217;s bond,&#8221; the audit says, referencing another section of state law.</p><p>Taxes can&#8217;t be printed in an elected collector&#8217;s name without a valid bond, Bednar said, adding that she publicly released the audit and personally delivered a letter summarizing her findings to all three taxing bodies Friday because other tax bills are in the mail.</p><p>Bednar posted the audit to the website shortly after 4 p.m.</p><p>Pedri signed the audit around noon Friday, handwriting that county management reserves the right to respond within 14 days.</p><p><strong>Tax implications</strong></p><p>Delayed collection in Hazle Township has a greater impact on the county because the municipality has the largest tax base of all 76 county municipalities, assessment records show.</p><p>With a current tax base of $1.48 billion, the township moved into the top spot with the highest overall assessment in 2016, ending Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s historic reign at the head of the pack. In comparison, Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s tax base is currently $1.4 billion, records show.</p><p>Bednar&#8217;s audit, which also was prepared by internal auditor Mark Majikes, said tax collectors must be bonded due to the risk involved with collecting money. A bond is a &#8220;legal promise&#8221; a personal or corporate surety will accept responsibility and cover a taxing district for losses of the collector.</p><p>&#8220;In simpler terms, this means if a tax collector is not bonded, that person cannot be the tax collector,&#8221; the audit said.</p><p>According to the audit, collectors in all municipalities except Hanover Township must be bonded for one-third, or 33.33 percent of the maximum taxes that can be paid in a year. The bonding requirement is at least 50 percent of the total taxes in Hanover because it is ranked a first-class township, the audit said.</p><p>For example, the $1.48 billion tax base for Hazle Township equates to a maximum of approximately $24.63 million in school, county and local taxes that could be collected based on their current tax rates. That means the elected collector would have to be bonded for about $8 million.</p><p>The school district typically pays around 59.5 percent of the bond premium, while the shares are 36 percent for the county and 4.5 percent for the township, records show.</p><p>Bednar said she opted to audit the bonds now because 2018 is the beginning of a new four-year term for many tax collectors.</p><p>The audit found no insufficient bonding for other collectors.</p><p><strong>Previous delays</strong></p><p>This isn&#8217;t the first time bills were delayed due to a bonding issue.</p><p>The county omitted Lake Township from its mailing in 2010 because then-collector Donna Kocher had not obtained a bond due to her credit report. Kocher later resigned, saying she didn&#8217;t want to saddle taxpayers with the additional expense of a bond for her at a higher premium.</p><p>The county treasurer&#8217;s office collects county taxes in all four cities &#8212; Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Nanticoke and Hazleton &#8212; and both county and municipal taxes in Newport Township. The three home rule municipalities &#8212; Kingston and Wilkes-Barre and Kingston townships &#8212; collect county taxes on their own. Elected collectors receive county taxes in the remaining 68 municipalities.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Michael DeCosmo, a former Hazle Township tax collector, discusses the value of elected collectors during a 2013 Luzerne County Council meeting. His son, Ryan DeCosmo, was elected the township&#8217;s collector for 2018 but has been challenged for submitting a bond in his father&#8217;s name instead of his own. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_decosmo.jpeg</photo0><caption0>Michael DeCosmo, a former Hazle Township tax collector, discusses the value of elected collectors during a 2013 Luzerne County Council meeting. His son, Ryan DeCosmo, was elected the township&#8217;s collector for 2018 but has been challenged for submitting a bond in his father&#8217;s name instead of his own. </caption0><photoCredit0>File photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_bednar.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Bednar </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_bednar.jpg</photo1><caption1>Bednar </caption1><photoCredit1>File photo </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Bills will be delayed in Hazle Twp.</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>

Hazle Township tax collector’s bond challenged in Luzerne County audit