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<p>Luzerne County will not increase real estate taxes in 2019, county council decided Tuesday.</p><p>Council reduced the administration&#8217;s proposed 3 percent tax hike by cutting spending requests in many departments, dipping into part of this year&#8217;s $5.6 million contingency surplus and shrinking next year&#8217;s budgeted reserve.</p><p>With the exception of Councilman Edward Brominski, all council members approved the budget. However, Councilman Chris Perry abstained from voting on the court portion of the budget because his daughter has been a court reporter for 18 years.</p><p>Councilman Harry Haas said the budget whittling was a &#8220;good team effort.&#8221;</p><p>Councilman Robert Schnee concurred, saying council and the administration worked together.</p><p>&#8220;We got it down to zero percent for the people we represent, which I think we did a great job,&#8221; Schnee said.</p><p>Real estate taxes will remain at 5.9754 mills, which equates to a bill of $597.54 on a property assessed at $100,000. A mill is $1 tax for every $1,000 in assessed value.</p><p>As part of the effort to avoid a tax hike, council applied $1.463 million of this year&#8217;s surplus to next year&#8217;s health care expenses. In addition, the 2019 budgeted contingency will be reduced from $1.05 million to $461,217.</p><p>Council Chairman Tim McGinley cautioned this year&#8217;s surplus came from one-time revenue, which may create a challenge balancing the next budget.</p><p>&#8221;Those things are behind us,&#8221; McGinley said of the revenue windfalls. &#8220;It&#8217;s not going to be easy. It&#8217;s going to require everybody&#8217;s effort.&#8221;</p><p class="n_ 342 v1">For the remaining 2018 surplus, council agreed to leave $1 million set aside in case there are any unforeseen emergencies before year&#8217;s end, use $137,000 for new equipment or repair projects removed from the 2019 proposed budget and place $3 million in the dwindling capital fund &#8212; $1 million of that to begin a 911 emergency radio upgrade project estimated at $20 million.</p><p>County Manager C. David Pedri released a statement saying he is &#8220;very pleased&#8220; the county will have a second consecutive year without a tax hike.</p><p>&#8220;County council and the county administration worked very hard on this together to get this result. This is our Luzerne County government at work, and I hope the citizens are very pleased with the results of our work,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The council cuts included elimination of funding for an election services associate position that was created and filled this year, even though council had not included it in the 2018 budget. Although there was some confusion about the vote to cut that position&#8217;s funding at a prior meeting, no council members proposed restoring the earmark Tuesday.</p><p><strong>Trip probe</strong></p><p>In other business, the county administration said it plans to hire outside legal counsel from Harrisburg to complete an internal investigation of Election Director Marisa Crispell&#8217;s participation in two advisory board trips funded by the company that later sold $325,000 in electronic poll books to the county.</p><p>Crispell has said she stopped being an advisory board member for Election Systems &amp; Software (ES&amp;S) in fall 2017 before the county sought proposals from companies interested in supplying the poll books in January 2018. She said she cleared her participation with county assistant solicitor Michael Butera and county Administrative Services Division Head David Parsnik.</p><p>Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo said initial plans for the county human resources department to handle the investigation were nixed because Parsnik oversees that department. Crocamo said her office has a conflict because she supervises Butera.</p><p>Crocamo selected the Harrisburg firm McNees Wallace &amp; Nurick LLC to perform the investigation, specifically its attorney Crystal Clark, who specializes in public sector labor and employment. Crocamo said she became aware of Clark&#8217;s expertise because the attorney has coordinated seminars through the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.</p><p>A contract setting fees for the McNees firm has not been finalized, Crocamo said. The administration did not publicly seek requests for proposals because the investigation is an emergency situation, she said. Council does not have to vote on the contract because it will be covered by the law division&#8217;s special legal services budget allotment, she noted.</p><p>The state auditor general&#8217;s office also is reviewing Crispell&#8217;s advisory board participation. The McNees firm&#8217;s investigation is still warranted, Crocamo said, because it will focus largely on if the actions of those involved complied with local mandates under the county&#8217;s home rule charter and ethics, personnel and administrative codes.</p><p>Crocamo said she had reached out to the auditor general&#8217;s office to ensure the county would provide all needed information. She already issued a directive for staff to preserve all emails related to the matter and has received additional requests from the state that will be honored.</p><p>Several council members have said Crispell should have informed them of her advisory board role before council voted on the poll books. Member Linda McClosky Houck said council pursued the purchase of poll books at Crispell&#8217;s recommendation.</p><p>Council postponed a planned work session discussion about the poll book contract Tuesday.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The Luzerne County Courthouse, where county council on Tuesday decided against repealing a county residency requirement for top management positions.</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_luzcocourthouse01-6.jpg</photo0><caption0>The Luzerne County Courthouse, where county council on Tuesday decided against repealing a county residency requirement for top management positions.</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></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>

Luzerne County Council opts for no tax hike in 2019; update on trip probe