Luzerne County Council removed a real estate tax break decision from Tuesday’s voting agenda.
Council Vice Chairman Brian Thornton made the motion to delay a vote on the request for a break on two adjacent parcels in the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Township, saying further review was needed.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo said she is continuing negotiations with the developer — Flint Development — to address suggestions raised by Councilman Harry Haas, and more time is needed.
During council’s March 12 work session, Haas had urged Flint to lower its abatement percentages.
Councilwoman Brittany Stephenson also has publicly said she does not support the pending break and called for a broad discussion on a countywide economic development plan.
In response, Flint recently offered to alter its request for the new “Hazleton Logistics Project,” which will generate additional tax revenue to the county during the break, according to an email sent to council.
The developer initially sought a 90% abatement on new construction the first seven years, 80% in the eighth year, 70% in the ninth and 60% in the tenth and final year.
Under its revised proposal, the company requested these percentages of taxes to be forgiven, starting with the first year and ending with the tenth: 90%, 87.5%, 85%, 82.5%, 80%, 75%, 70%, 65%, 60% and 55%.
The break is under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) program for blighted properties, which means the property owner pays real estate taxes on the land throughout the break and receives a discount on taxes for the new development.
In Flint’s follow-up communication, it reiterated the end user ultimately receives the benefit of tax savings through the industry-standard triple net lease structure. For a successful project that attracts desirable end users, it is “critical” to remain competitive with other nearby developments regarding taxes, it said.
“Per Councilman Haas’ request, we dug back into the numbers following the work session and believe that is still achievable with the modified LERTA schedule,” it said.
Without the Hazleton Logistics project, annual real estate tax payments to the county from the site are currently $6,158.
Under the revised proposal, the company’s annual payments to the county would rise to $54,187 in the first year of the LERTA, to $166,381 in the tenth and final year of the break and to $338,057 after the break expires, its communication said.
Haas said after Tuesday’s meeting he appreciates the revised proposal but believes it would need to start, not end, around 55% for him to support it.
Flint plans to invest $75 million to construct two industrial buildings totaling 802,732 square feet on 66 acres of former mine-scarred land to accommodate market demand from a wide range of prospective warehousing, manufacturing and other industrial users, its presentation said.
Officials in Hazle Township and the Hazleton Area School District already have approved the tax break for Flint.
Advocates of LERTAs say such incentives are necessary to attract investment and lock in new development that will significantly boost real estate tax revenue down the road for the county and other taxing bodies.
A complete calculation of the tax revenue the county stands to gain from all prior-approved LERTAs once they expire is not possible because some of the major developments are still working on site preparations and have not yet constructed buildings that must be assigned assessed values.
However, county Director of Assessments Kristin L. Montgomery generated a report for Crocamo, which was furnished to council, that provides a snapshot reading of some future gains.
At this moment, the county is abating $484.46 million in assessed value for 30 active LERTA projects.
One expires this month carrying an assessed structure value of $14.54 million, which will equate to an additional $92,420 in county tax revenue annually based on the current county tax rate, Montgomery’s report said.
The abated taxes on the remaining 29 properties is currently $469.9 million, which would amount to nearly $3 million in additional county tax revenue once the breaks expire. Again, the figure on future receipts will increase as more buildings come online.
Election update
County Acting Election Director Emily Cook provided an April 23 primary election update during Tuesday’s work session.
More than 21,000 mail ballot applications have been received to date, and the election bureau plans to start mailing them to voters the end of this week, Cook said.
In the government study commission race, Cook said a sticker will be placed on the electronic ballot marking devices at polling places alerting voters that there are 17 commission candidates and that they will need to touch a scroll-down tab to see all their names. This sticker is in addition to a previously announced screen alert in red capital letters.
Councilwoman Joanna Bryn Smith emphasized independent voters who are not registered Democrats and Republicans will have an opportunity to vote on the study commission candidates and referendum in the primary.
Primary voters will choose seven citizens to serve on the study commission, but they will only be seated if a majority of county voters approve a referendum on the ballot asking if they want to activate a commission.
In reference to the November 2022 general election paper shortage, Thornton asked if there is “plenty of paper.”
Cook said about 1.2 million sheets of paper are on hand and that all ballot marking devices are fully stocked.