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<p>Luzerne County recently issued refunds to two commercial property owners because they obtained real estate tax assessment reductions granted through court-level settlements, records show.</p><p>The first was for the 488-acre Huntsville Golf Club in Lehman Township, which is owned by Maplemoor Inc.</p><p>Its assessment was reduced from $6.06 million to $3.75 million, resulting in a county tax refund of $40,125 from 2016 through 2018. Refunds date back to the year an assessment challenge was filed.</p><p>In the second challenge, New Jersey-based MMP Freeland LLC obtained a reduction for its commercial building on Route 940 in Foster Township that lowered the assessment from $1.4 million to $995,000, records show. The county had to refund $9,644 from 2015 through 2018.</p><p><strong>New voting systems</strong></p><p>Vendors interested in supplying Luzerne County&#8217;s paper-trail voting systems must submit proposals by Friday, the solicitation says.</p><p>A state mandate dictates new systems be in use by the April 2020 primary.</p><p>County Manager C. David Pedri has set up a nine-member committee to screen vendor responses and make a recommendation on which system should be purchased, with the goal of having new equipment operational by this year&#8217;s November general. Council has final say on the purchase.</p><p><strong>Voter statistics</strong></p><p>Among the documents attached to the request for voting system proposals under purchasing at <a href="https://www.luzernecounty.org/bids.aspx?bidID=170" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.luzernecounty.org</a> is a &#8220;voter count by district&#8221; report that shows the wide swings in the number of people signed up to vote in the county&#8217;s 180 election districts.</p><p>The three districts with the highest registered voter count over 3,000: Fairview Township, 3,455; District 3 in Kingston Township, 3,274; and Sugarloaf Township, 3,046.</p><p>Five districts have fewer than 300 registered voters: District 3 Bear Creek Township, 212; Bear Creek Village, 237; Jeddo borough, 70; New Columbus borough, 147; and Penn Lake Park borough, 283.</p><p>County Election Director Marisa Crispell has said she supports a comprehensive revamping of the election code, largely to allow further consolidation and more manageable regional vote centers.</p><p><strong>Ethics commission</strong></p><p>After meeting in a closed-door executive session last week, the county&#8217;s ethics commission decided to dismiss one pending complaint and continue investigating four others.</p><p>The four commission members in attendance &#8212; citizen Marc Dixon, Pedri, county Controller Michelle Bednar and District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis &#8212; agreed to meet again on June 3 to review the status of the four pending complaints. Citizen commission member Karen Metta was absent Tuesday.</p><p>Commission members said they can&#8217;t discuss details of the cases. The council-adopted ethics code says all complaints are deemed personnel matters kept confidential in accordance with state open records laws. However, final commission decisions, sanctions and orders may be available to the public, the code says.</p><p>As required by the code, outside attorneys &#8212; currently Attorneys Michael Sharkey and Nanda Palissery &#8212; are performing the investigations.</p><p><strong>Job opening</strong></p><p>The county is seeking applicants to fill a planning/zoning department transportation planner position recently created due to the receipt of state funding.</p><p>Advertised on the &#8220;career opportunities&#8221; page at <a href="https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/luzernecounty" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.luzernecounty.org</a> along with several other openings, the position pays $48,000 to $53,000. Resumes are due May 15.</p><p><strong>Courthouse restoration</strong></p><p>The May issue of Traditional Building magazine includes a feature on the county courthouse rotunda and south lobby restoration project.</p><p>The magazine focuses on traditional design in public architecture and is read by architects, contractors, facility managers, developers, artisans and interior designers, according to its website at <a href="https://www.traditionalbuilding.com/page/the-magazine" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.traditionalbuilding.com/page/the-magazine</a>.</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/2019/05/web1_web1_luzerne-county-courthouse-1.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 issues refunds for property assessment reductions