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<p>Instead of appointing someone to replace an elected tax collector who moved away, Courtdale officials want the Luzerne County Treasurer&#8217;s Office to handle their collection of municipal real estate taxes.</p><p>The change would save the municipality an estimated $4,000 because the treasurer&#8217;s office would charge $1,000 and the elected collector had received approximately $5,000 last year, borough Council President Carl Hodorowski told county council members last week.</p><p>That&#8217;s a significant savings for the &#8220;small municipality&#8221; with a $214,000 annual budget, Hodorowski said.</p><p>&#8221;We watch our pennies, and this can actually help improve and hopefully lower taxes for our residents,&#8221; he said, asking county council to approve the change at its March 26 meeting.</p><p>But any alterations to the usage of elected collectors historically has been controversial and charged. A packed crowd of elected collectors had appeared at a county council meeting in January 2017, when a council majority ultimately voted to reject proposals to reduce their pay or switch to in-house collection of county taxes.</p><p>Councilwoman Jane Walsh Waitkus jumped on Hodorowski&#8217;s request last week, saying she believes resident tax collectors provide a &#8220;wonderful service.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I realize there&#8217;s a cost; however, I think it can&#8217;t always be about cost,&#8221; Walsh Waitkus said, questioning if this is a &#8220;very convenient opportunity to eliminate a local resident.&#8221;</p><p>Hodorowski said someone has filed a petition to run in this year&#8217;s election to fill the remaining two years in the term, but the borough solicitor also is researching whether the borough can opt out of using an elected collector to continue realizing the savings. The borough has been paying its elected collector about 5 percent of total collections, records show.</p><p>Republican and registered voter Lisa Ann Giordano has filed a nomination petition and other paperwork to appear on the ballot for borough tax collector, said county Election Director Marisa Crispell.</p><p>Future plans aside, Courtdale is in a bind now because municipal tax bills cannot be mailed to its approximately 400 property owners until a bonded collector is in place, Hodorowski said. Some residents are questioning why tax bills have not arrived, and the borough needs to start receiving the revenue, he said.</p><p>Councilman Stephen A. Urban, who has been among the elected collector advocates, asked if the borough can appoint someone, possibly the candidate who is running.</p><p>Hodorowski said that&#8217;s a problem because bills can&#8217;t be mailed until a new appointee obtains bonding and completes a six-hour class. The state added an educational requirement for new collectors.</p><p>Urban said he would support the county collection if it is temporary.</p><p>Councilman Harry Haas said &#8220;time is of the essence&#8221; in this situation and described the county treasurer&#8217;s office as &#8220;very competent.</p><p>Council Vice Chairman Eugene Kelleher said the county assistance sounds like a &#8220;win-win.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It certainly does,&#8221; Hodorowski said.</p><p>County Treasurer&#8217;s Office Manager/Tax Administrator Laura Beers told council her office collects 34,000 tax bills &#8212; county taxes in the county&#8217;s four cities and both county and municipal bills in Newport Township &#8212; with nearly 11,000 processed as of last week. The township obtained county approval to collect its taxes in 2015 following a vacancy in the elected collector post, records show.</p><p>Beers said she offered the county&#8217;s assistance to Courtdale, noting her office is available to collect and process bills 7.5 hours a day on weekdays in addition to providing online payments. The office also offers same-day tax certifications and forwards collected money to taxing bodies weekly instead of monthly during periods of heavy activity.</p><p>The county also would benefit from the receipt of $1,000 from Courtdale, she said.</p><p>If council approves the county collection, borough tax bills can be mailed by March 30, Beers said. Property owners would still have a two-month period to pay taxes at a discounted rate and another two months to pay the full amount without penalty or interest, she said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Courthouse </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_luzcocourthouse01-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Courthouse </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 tax collection proposed in Courtdale