Luzerne County’s financial advisor Public Financial Management is set to present an update on the county’s outstanding debt during Tuesday’s council work session.
With this year’s payment factored in, the county owes $191.46 million in principal and interest, according to a report included with the agenda.
Annual debt repayments range from $26.4 million to $26.7 million until 2030, when a final $6.2 million is owed, it said.
County officials have held up debt reduction as a major achievement because outstanding debt had ballooned to $466 million in 2009, before the county’s 2012 switch to home rule. The debt stemmed from years of borrowing to cover capital projects, deficits and other spending.
The average interest rates on the county debt range from 2.17% to 3.68%, the report said.
PFM’s report also cites the county’s Standard and Poor’s credit rating upgrade to an A rating in February.
The rating could continue to improve with gains in the economy and the growth and maintenance of the county’s reserves, the report said. Conversely, the rating could backtrack if the county adopts structurally imbalanced budgets, materially weakens reserves, shorts the employee pension fund contribution or unexpectedly issues new debt, it said.
Tuesday’s work session follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with instructions for remote attendance posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org.
West Pittston Bridge
Also on Tuesday’s work session is an administration request for council to approve a $50,000 allocation to design a temporary traffic signal and complete traffic analysis at intersections near the state-owned Spc. Dale J. Kridlo Bridge (Fort Jenkins) between Pittston and West Pittston.
Traffic on this bridge has increased dramatically since the 2021 closure of the nearby county-owned Firefighters’ Memorial Bridge (Water Street) over the Susquehanna River. The state agreed to assume responsibility for the design and construction to replace both spans, but completion will take years, officials said.
Until then, temporary traffic alterations are necessary for public safety and to help reduce congestion, officials have said.
The administration proposes covering the $50,000 for a temporary traffic signal and analysis with the county’s “Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund” allocation. According to government reports, this funding was provided through the American Rescue Plan Act to support eligible counties that have federal lands within their jurisdiction. Luzerne County’s consistency fund allocations are $50,000 annually for both 2022 and 2023, reports said.
Overall, the traffic signal/analysis will cost $106,508, and the county would fund the remainder with money already in the county engineering department budget, the administration said.
Prison health care
A discussion with county prison inmate medical services provider WellPath LLC also is scheduled during the work session.
WellPath was the only company that submitted a proposal to provide inmate medical services after the current contract expires the end of this year, records show.
Council had voted in June to extend the medical provider contract with WellPath for six more months to allow time to publicly seek and vet all providers interested in the work.
Vendor responses were due Aug. 25, according to the request, which was 61 pages, not including addendums.
WellPath’s proposal is $4.5 million for 2024, $4.7 million for 2025 and $4.9 million for 2026, records show.
Election update
The county election bureau has posted Nov. 7 general election sample ballots on its section of the county website and is sending a courtesy text to all candidates asking them to check the samples to make sure there are no errors. Any corrections should be immediately sent to the bureau at elections@luzernecounty.org.
The bureau plans to complete ballot proofing next week, according to its weekly public update.
Poll worker training letters were mailed to all county poll workers, with classes set to begin Oct. 16, the update said.
In personnel announcements, the bureau has hired assessment office employee Steve Hahn as the new elections operation specialist, it said. Amanda Latoski has been retained as the new poll worker training consultant for the Nov. 7 general election, it said.