Luzerne County reassessment

Lawyers, lawyers everywhere and ...............they will make money.


Reassessment opponents to hire lawyer


Pa. court weighs state's property tax assessments


They may tie it up for a while but in the end we will pay more in property taxes and the esquires will be better off.

I paid our property taxes today and we got a $211 reduction from the slots revenue. That is good but why is only half of this money is dedicated to property tax relief? The other half is to go to "economic development projects" that the rest of us call Corporate Welfare.

Some examples:

The new hockey arena in Pittsburgh

A fantasy Airport in Hazleton

Part of the money is "EARMARKED" to help the host towns deal with the problems that arise from having one of these money pits such as traffic control, wear and tear on the roads plus the anticipated increase in crime. From what I see the Mohegan Sun Casino hasn't had many negative effects on my little hamlet of Plains Township. We have actually benefited from the place because more than 20 streets have been paved since the cash started flowing in. The best benefit for me and my neighbors is that the cost of a case of trash bags was reduced from $75 for a case of 50 to $25.


Thanks Suckers

Hazleton Cargo Airport

I got a curious piece of mail today. It was from State Represenative Todd Eachus. It's not unusual to get a piece of propaganda from an elected official but they usually come in an election year. But the really strange thing about it is that it came from someone from another district. I hope this not a trend and it's another reason to ban this abuse of taxpayer money. But that's another story.

The letter itself touts the promise of building a cargo airport near Hazleton. Claiming 100,000 jobs could be created and raise the medium income and cites the miracle of Memphis as a reason to build yet another airport in the area. I have my doubts about this project knowing full well how real-estate deals are done around here. Mr. John Doe used eminent domain to get rid of Paragon Adventure Park. More will come. Since there is no "anchor tenant" how far will this fantasy proceed?

Mirror, mirror, who's the scariest one......

During the Luzerne County Commissioners meeting Wednesday discussing the proposed Hazleton Cargo Airport Commissioner Stephen A. Urban asked "Is there a need? ... I don’t want to see a white elephant built.” A reasonable question since Skrep admitted they haven't even contacted any of the large cargo companies such as UPS or Fedex to ask if they would locate their operations at the new airport. But Skrepenak said he remains optimistic the proposal is feasible and said Urban was trying to scare people.“I’m not going to paint a picture of fear,” Skrepenak said.

Hazleton Cargo Airport

"Who’s getting rich here?”- Steve Flood, a former county controller who is running for county commissioner, said the creation of the authority will be “rammed through” like the county’s leasing of a Pittston juvenile detention center owned by Powell and Zappala.

The people who live near the proposed site of the Hazleton Cargo Airport predictably started yelling NIMBY and doubting the job creation numbers that have been floated. The potential environmental damage hasn't even been explored. Paving a big chunk of forest is going to create runoff problems. Gladstone Partners is already trying to put one local business, Paragon Adventure Park, out of business and many other property owners worry that they may get screwed by the use of eminent domain by John Doe and company.

No sex, drugs or rock n' roll

Just an old fashioned cooking the books for a friend. At least one question has been answered, Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran does show up at the office once in a while. What she does when she is there is another question.

DA: Feds eyeing ‘Doe’ flap

Changing the name on a tax lien for a pal may or may not be a crime but it sure doesn't look good. Our crusading District Attorney/Judicial candidate typically punted the issue, “Because it involves federal Internal Revenue Service issues and federal liens, it would be looked at by officials at that level,” he said.

A Big Fat Slob and The Lu Lac Political Letter have more. Like many of us Mark wants to see Jill in a tube top.

The Good ole boys/girls

Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran filed an IRS tax lien notice under another name – John Doe – for her law partner Robert Powell. A $279,322 Internal Revenue Service lien. She said she thought it was an error on the part of the IRS.

She said she did not give her law partner special treatment and would treat others the same. Yeah, right. LV Dem's Beware of the Good Ole Boys tells us how it works.

This guy is involved in just about everything, the Hazleton airport, the sweethart deal of the juvi prison in Pittston and other projects that the taxpayers financed.

Another reason why this job should not be an elected position. Chris reminded me of it.