Music to my ears

"We can’t continually run the county in a deficit and use bonds to balance the budget,” -

Crestwood School Board member and Luzerne County commissioner candidate Bill Jones.

It's great that a commissioner candidate has picked up on what I've been harping about for the last two years. Three of the last four years the Bond Brothers have had to float a bond just to meet the payroll. This year they avoided it by a bunch of accounting tricks. Pushing off debt repayment that will cost more in the future, inventing revenue from land sales that have not yet happened and "more agressive" tax collection. Presto, no tax increase. You can't run a business or local government by juggling the books. It will eventually come crashing down on your head.

Wilkes-Barre City Councilwoman Kathy Kane said she will run for re-election and skip the county race. Steve Flood, a former county controller, said Tuesday that he’s 90 percent sure he will run for commissioner, but he said talk that he would switch to a Republican registration is inaccurate.

Greg Skrepenak and his to be announced running mate (Maryanne Petrilla) have a head start in fundraising. Outgoing commish Todd Vonderheid said he is willing $100,000 in campaign money to the happy couple.

And the Bond Brothers gave a going away present of $3000 to a lucky few.

Luzerne County update

“Next year is not what I am ruling on.”- Judge Ann Lokuta


Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla is promissing cuts in next year's budget but Judge Lokuta doesn't buy into it. Walter Griffith and Ed Chesnovitch have been drilling county officials in the hearings on their request to borrow $16 million to cover last year's bills and she has let them question the officials dealing with this mess.

It would be helpful if Sam Diaz and Sam Guesto testified on how the county got into this bind in the first place.

Petrilla wants to cut 20 percent from the county’s 2009 budget


Judge Lokuta will decide if county can borrow $16 M


Judge grills Petrilla on ’08 deficit


The latest version of the Life Transiition plan claims that $1.8 million will be saved in 2009 with the acceptance of an early-retirement incentive plan by 127 county employees. The last time they tried this the county hired back many of the so called retired employees through a temp agency. I have yet to see an accounting or progress report that documents any money that has been saved. The temp agency that the Bond Brothers (Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid) used was One Source Staffing Solutions owned by 10th CD Republican candidate Chris Hackett who gave his first ever political contribution to the Bond Brothers reelection committee.



Musto chosen to fill county judge vacancy


Joe Musto, brother of State Senator Ray Musto, will serve out the term of Judge Michael Conahan on the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas who supposedly resigned last year. Conanhan has moved on to being a senior Judge presiding over bench trials that everyone who pays attention knows who will win. The rumor mill says that Conahan is in deep doo doo because of his actions involving PA Child Care. Musto was appointed to the bench in 1993 by Governor Casey but lost the following election to Conahan. I think we got that one wrong.

The big bucks

The Supreme Court ruled a few years ago that money equals free speech (Buckley v. Valeo). Some people have a louder voice than others.

Pennsylvania has very few restrictions on the amounts that can be given to a candidate for any office. A story today in the TL by Jennifer Learn-Andes spells it out:

Big money for Skrep, Dem mate to end ’06

Some of the names that gave big bucks to the incumbent Commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid (the Bond Brothers) jumped out at me:

Developer Robert K. Mericle was the top donor, giving $10,500 to the campaign. Other representatives of his company, Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, gave another $7,000.


How many times has he asked for a tax break from the county or the school district and local government where his next project is located?

Christopher Hackett, of One Source Staffing Solutions in Wilkes-Barre, $5,000

When the Bond Brothers came up with the Life Transition Plan to give a golden parachute to long time employees to get them to retire many of them were hired back to "ease the transition." They used a temp service. Guess which one.

There are many more examples but you get the idea.

The Bond Brothers exposed

Jennifer Learn-Andes has a great story in the Times-Leader today about how the commissioners have been borrowing money left and right. I've been complaining about this practice since I started blogging. They keep borrowing for one purpose then spend it on another.

They have borrowed $29.5 million to cover general fund budget deficits and $11 million to fund the so called Life Transition Plan that resulted in all the people that had been let go being hired back through OneSource Staffing Solutions.

That's $40 million bucks to just meet expenses that will be have to be paid backed later.

Some highlights:

The county already owes roughly $309 million in bond principal and interest over the next 19 years.

Commissioners could have opted to return that $10 million in unneeded bond money but have apparently decided to use it for other things. The county gets away with this deviation by adding a clause in most bond documents that gives commissioners freedom to add or subtract capital projects.

The county’s master capital plan prepared by Skrepenak and Vonderheid calls for the county to take on another $161.4 million in new bond debt from 2007 through 2011 – $100 million for a new prison and $61.4 million for other projects.


$9.2 million in bond money that had been earmarked for a new juvenile detention center has already been spent on other projects because Skrepenak and Vonderheid decided to lease a facility in Pittston Township.

And on and on.


$309 million in debt and they want to add more.

Election day in PA

I usually put up some predictions about the election in the weekend before along with my endorsements for what it's worth but this year I'm just not that excited. But why let that stop me. I'll start with contests I can vote in.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Superior Court

Flip a ten sided coin. I'm still not sure who I'm going to vote for when I wake up tomorrow although Tim McCormick's direct mail piece got my attention.

Act 1

It will probably pass in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District and many others. If your a senior home owner who lives on only Social Security it's a great deal. If your a working stiff that happens to own a home or rents you get screwed. And seniors who have pension, interest and investment income are in for a rude surprise. More than anything else I oppose this is because it will require filing yet another tax return.

Luzerne County Judge

Hold your nose and vote for Marsilio. The only reason he says he should be elected is that he is not Dave Lupas, good enough for me. I'm very surprised there aren't more candidates trying for this seat. The last time there was a judge seat open there was a slew of candidates including a guy named Nanda. I forgot his last name but I ended up voting for him after listening to him on the Sue Henry show. Judge's are supposed to be meticulous in their attention to detail and take responsibility for their decisions. Dave Lupas has had many cases dismissed because his office screwed up the paperwork then he blamed other people in his office for it. Sorry Dave, the fish stinks from the head down.


Luzerne County District Attorney

This one will be decided in the primary as no Republican is running. Jackie-Mo will romp to victory with the help of quasi-incumbency, lots of money from lots of lawyers and the Democratic Party endorsement. She's running on the same platform that Lupas did 8 years ago of locking up all the drug dealers and we all know that's turned out well. Since Dave Lupas was elected DA all the dealers have been locked up and there are no drugs in Luzerne County. Give me a fucking break. Vito DeLuca is easily the best choice for the job. He's been endorsed by the Times-Leader and State Rep John Yudichak is backing him.

Luzerne County Commissioner

Skrep and Petrilla will win the Democratic nominations. With Vondy riding off to head the Chamber of Commerce it leaves just one of the Bond Brothers to defend the record. 3 of the last 4 years the commissioners have had to float a bond just to meet payroll. They floated a bond to pay for a long overdue reassessment of property values and keep putting it off because it's an election year and they could pay for the extension because they had some left over bond money to pay for the delay. Then there is the "Life Transition Plan." They floated another bond to finance this plan that will cost $23 million over 15 years in the hope of saving $2+million if salaries are kept in check. I could go on all night but you get the idea. This is crazy. Now were looking at borrowing another $100 million to build a new prison. After the Pittston Juvenile Detention Center sweetheart deal do you want these people spending more of your money. Remember a bond is not free money but borrowing against future taxes.

I will vote for Steve Flood and Greg Gulick. I don't know much about Greg but his resume is sound. He's a long time local government official. I will vote for Steve Flood, even though he has been felled by a stroke, out of a sense of loyalty. He's a "bomb thrower and rabble rouser" that got results. Every employee of the county that is or will be eligible for a pension owes him a debt of gratitude.

Staeve Urban will win one of the Republican nominations and I predict Bill Jones will get the other.

Sheriff

Barry Stankus is the incumbent Republican officeholder. Isn't that a strange phrase. He'll win in the fall because he's done a good job. Mike Savokinas is the endorsed Democratic candidate running against George "Nipper" Nowakowski who has run for this office a few times before as a Republican. Nipper said he would appoint former Sheriff Carl " look out for that dog" Zawatski as his deputy. I vote for Savokinas.

Coroner

Another race that will be decided in the primary. Dr. Jack will win but I like both challengers. Plymouth funeral director Jim Desiderio has hit the party cicuit and I like his version of embalming fluid. But Mrs. G is leaning toward John Corcoran.

Other races I'm watching are the Philly Mayors race. Go Nutter. What a great name for a politician. But I met Dwight Evans many years ago and hope he wins. I'm pulling for Corey O'Brien in the Lackawanna County Commissioners race and hope Cordaro goes down. My old friend Errol Flynn is running for judge in Wayne County and Mario Fiorucci should be the next Mayor of Sugar Notch

Luzerne County theme song

We have the Bond Brothers and the Juvie Brothers and in honor what is going on with the Sheriffs Department the Chemical Brothers seems like the right choice. I don't think I can even list all the scandals going on right now, maybe the The Yonk is right and the courthouse should just be blown up. Other suggestions for a theme song are welcome.


Out of Control-chemical brothers

Bonds, Luzerne County bonds

Bond issue nets county $72.3 M

County closes on $87M+ bond deal

I know that you have to borrow money to pay for things you can't pay for today (house, car, appliances) but will be able to pay off in a reasonable period of time and government has to do the same thing. The trick is not to get in over your head and don't borrow for things you want instead of what you need. That's why I have a problem with this latest bond issue. The last time I checked Luzerne County was on the hook for over $300 million in principle and interest payments over the next 20 years. Remember that a bond is only a loan against future taxes. The list of projects in the TL doesn't have many details on what the money will spent on and the Luzerne County Commissioners in the past have had a bad habit of borrowing money for one purpose and spending it on another. Shall I remind you of one thing that is in the news:

In 2003 $9 million was borrowed to build a new for a new county-owned juvenile detention facility. It was never built because the Bond Brothers (Skrep and Vondy) decided to sign a 20 year $58 million lease with a private company, PA Child Care, that was owned by a business partner of a couple of local judges. Instead of returning the money or holding on to it to deal with a future emergency that eventually came they spent it on other projects.

The Bond brothers strike again

I think we have been a victim of a bait and switch. All the attention this month has been about the proposed pay raise for the Luzerne County commissioners and row officers that in the scheme of things wouldn't cost much. Then right before the holidays when nobody is paying attention Majority Commissioners Todd Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak vote for a "balanced budget" that relies on invented revenues and rescheduling debt that will have to paid off later at a higher rate. But they weren't done. They then voted to use $7 million in unused bond money borrowed to build a new juvenile detention center that wasn't spent instead of cancelling the debt or holding on to it to fund the new prison on a wish list of other local projects. I don't know what the rules are for using bond money but it strikes me as dishonest to float a bond for one purpose then spend it on another.

Then they drop this bombshell.

$193M county capital plan issued

If a plan released Thursday holds true, Luzerne County Commissioners Todd Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak plan to borrow and spend $14 million for several capital projects during 2007 -- their final year in office together.

The last time I checked the county had over $125 million in debt obligations. You have to pay it back at some point but how will you do it if you take even more properties off the tax rolls.

The Urban Terrorist keeps asking questions

“I’m going to ask questions because that’s my job.”-Commissioner Stephen Urban


It looks like the Luzerne County budget is not balanced after all. Last year the Bond Brothers (Skrep and Vondy) presented an election year "balanced budget" that relied on some questionable revenue projections that included some hoped for money from land sales that haven't happened yet. They were also counting on another $3 million from beefed-up tax collection. How's that going? The previous 3 years they had to float a bond to just meet payroll and it looks like that will happen again but not until after the election.

They are also looking at borrowing an enormous amount of money to build a new prison but have started eminent domain proceedings to pay the owner of the Huber Breaker a kings ransom in the hope of turning that big pile of junk into some sort of anthracite magical mystery tour. Paid for by another bond.

It's all Tim's fault

“It’s not about me,” ...“It’s about the issues.”- Tim Grier

Officials ask citizen Tim Grier to withdraw challenge to bond borrowing to avoid layoffs, cuts.

SHUTDOWN CONSIDERED

It's all Tim's fault that every year the Luzerne County Commissioners have to borrow money to pay last years bills. It's all Tim's fault that they borrow money for one thing and spend it on another in violation of state law. It's his fault that they hid the looming deficit until after the election, violating the Bond Brothers (Skrep and Vondy) policy of regular budget updates.

And who's fault was it to let a few select people pay for their personal entertainment expenses with a county debit card?

DebitCardmissoner Greg Skrepenak has threatened to shut down the Luzerne County government if Grier doesn't back down saying the latest bond issue is needed to pay back last years tax anticipation loan which will lead to all sorts of dire financial consequences.

But there is an alternative before drastic measures have to be taken if the county will go to the courts and ask to borrow the money to cover this years shortfall. That process allows a 10-year repayment schedule; the county wants a 20-year repayment schedule.

“There’s no reason to stretch it out,” Grier said. “You have the option to go to the courts.

Is that correct?”

Sam Guesto responded, “That’s correct.

”“There you have it,” Grier said.

So the short term crises can be avoided and all this borrowing can be more defined hopefully with proviso that if you don't spend it on the original project the money must be returned.

Luzerne County finances

I started off blogging about Luzerne County government and politics but haven't written much about it lately. The Yonk  reminded me that I was a unrelenting critic of the games that the Bond Brothers played with numbers that put our county into the hole that it is in. Thankfully convicted criminal Greg Skrepnak and Todd Vonderheid are no longer Commissioners.

As a result of the Juvie Brothers and other scandals the people decided it was time to change the form of government and passed Home Rule. The new county council hired a professional manager after a nationwide search. This new form of government is not perfect but it is a big improvement over the old system of 3 Commissioners and a myriad of elected row officers.

Luzerne County Manager Bob Lawton is getting high marks from the people I have spoke to in county government. He is trying to clean up the mess. I don't agree with all his decisions on some non budget issues such as firing Leonard Piazza as Director of the Election Bureau.

Some of the dead enders will still try to hang on.

Deputy runs office, prothonotary gripes

 

4 seats on the new county council will be up in 2013. I urge all interested candidates to attend Blogfest on September 21st to give your pitch.  The Controller's spot is also up and the only name I've heard on the Dem side is Bob Morgan. Incumbent Walter Griffith is definitely running for reelection.

New row officers staff up

As first reported by Mark Luzerne County Controller-elect Walter Griffith
has selected Frank Pinnacoli to be deputy controller and Thomas Mosca as his new solicitor.

Pinnacoli has a BA in accounting from Kings College and has had a number of jobs the last few years. Price Waterhouse Coopers in New York City, CTSI in Dallas Acton Technologies Inc. in Pittston , Pella Products Inc. in Dunmore. Pinnacoli currently owns NEPA Accounting & Consulting Inc. in Kingston, a business he started with his father.

He replaces acting Controller AJ Martinelli who has to answer questions about his involvement with former Human Resources Director Doug Richards and the Continental Consultants Group. Earlier this year the Citizens Voice had a story about the no bid contract with Continental Consultants and I wrote about it in January. Not even the Commissioners knew what is going on let alone our clueless former Controller and present Commissioner Chairwoman. Why it took 10 months to expose this fraud is something all 3 commissioners and the acting controller have to answer for when all the information was in the public record. This should have been addressed long before the FBI had to figure it out for them. Martinelli also made the Idiot Watch with his spectacular pants falling down “Give me a break” DUI arrest performance.


Sam Stretton will be the solicitor when Carolee Medico Olenginski returns to the Luzerne County Prothonotary’s Office in January. Stretton was her solicitor the first time she held the office and later was the solicitor for former Controller Steve Flood who first blew the whistle on the Juvie Brothers and the 20 year lease of PA Child Care "negotiated" by the Bond Brothers. Primary Controller candidate Bob Sypniewski will be her deputy. Bob has previously said he would put his business interest on the back burner and work full time for the county.

Carolee has yet to name her interior decorator.

Luzerne County budget

For the first time time since I have been blogging the Luzerne County Commissioners have proposed a realistic budget. It has a lot of pain that could have been avoided if past administrations didn't inflate revenue projections to avoid a tax increase then scramble the next year to borrow the money they knew they didn't have.





The previous regime of the Bond Brothers, present minority Commissioner Greg Skrepnak and past commissioner Todd Vonderheid (who moved on to the Chamber of Commerce), and people before them presented works of fiction that counted on money from land sales that never happened and more aggressive tax collection, etc. When that didn't work out they floated another bond so now the county is just about tapped out on how much debt it can take on. No new prison or anything else.



Majority Commissioners Maryanne Petrilla and Stephen Urban have come up with a mix of tax increases, fees, borrowing and layoffs to try to bring some sanity back into the process. I hate the layoff and borrowing parts but they are being up front about it instead of waiting until January to drop a bomb.

Now the question is will the row officers and the courts go along with this plan.

A balanced budget?

No new taxes is the headline in the local papers about the 2007 Luzerne County budget. That's been achieved by juggling future debt repayment and hoping to sell the land that the Valley Crest Nursing Home sits on for $4 million. Another big if is getting $3 million from beefed-up tax collection. For the first time in county history, reminder letters will go out to property owners as soon as tax payments become overdue. People always forget to pay their taxes so sending out a late notice will solve that problem. If that doesn't work maybe they will farm it out to a collection agency. So after pushing off bond obligations to get a break this year and adding in $7 million of iffy revenue majority Commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid invented a balanced budget. Republican Steve Urban voted no. What could inspire such creative accounting? Oh yeah, it's an election year. Maybe the Controller could take a look at these numbers to see if they add up. Nevermind, Maryanne Petrilla is running for Commissioner and wants to be Skreps running mate.

The Bond brothers also approved a 10 year abatement for Robert Mericle’s new industrial park in Pittston and Jenkins townships. Mericle seems to own just about every parcel of wasteland in Wilkes-Barre and the rest of Luzerne County that can be developed. This project may warrant a a tax break since it's mine scarred wasteland but everytime you open the paper the news is about another property being taken off the the tax rolls.

Now here's my favorite part. Skrep channels Donald Rummsfeld:

“The reason I believe the county is in the position that it was in is from that nonvisionary point of view, that nonvisionary attitude that keeps us in the past, that links us to still being coal miners, so to speak, that doesn’t want to see us go into the future,” he said.

The borrowing has to stop

“Every American citizen is forced to tighten his or her belt and to become fiscally more responsible during this period of economic stress – the county should not be excused from such necessity simply because political in-fighting has polarized county officials from acting in a fiscally responsible manner by reviewing financial information which was reasonably available and foreseeable.”- Judge Ann Lokuta


Judge Lokuta told the county government to get its act together. When I read her decision on Luzerne County's request to borrow another $16 million to cover this year's shortfall I felt like somebody finally gets it. I have been complaining the outright lies and fiction that has passed for a county budget for as long as I have been blogging. Every year they expect millions from land sales that never happen and tell us that beefed up tax collection will bring in tens of millions more that they haven't been able to collect in the past. They offer early outs to employees then hire them back through temp agencies and cronies get no bid contracts that violate state law. A partial archive of my bitching about these practices are available here if you're interested. And how many times have they floated a bond for one purpose then spent it on another project. In 2003 $9 million was borrowed to build a new for a new county-owned juvenile detention facility. It was never built because the Bond Brothers (Skrep and Vondy) decided to sign a 20 year $58 million lease with a private company, PA Child Care, that was owned by a business partner of a couple of local judges. Instead of returning the money or holding on to it to deal with a future emergency that eventually came they spent it on other projects. And it has happened over and over again.


Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla is warning of layoffs and has asked all the department heads for help in cutting costs and they are reported to be helpful. We will see about that. The TL reports that our esteemed head of the county Judiciary told her to take a hike.


Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said she called county Court of Common Pleas President Judge Mark Ciavarella on Thursday to discuss upcoming employee layoffs, and he refused to cooperate.
Petrilla said the judge told her no layoffs will occur in any court branches, and commissioners can’t “touch” court employees. He said he will get a court order and sue commissioners who attempt to institute layoffs in court branches, Petrilla said.
Those branches include domestic relations, probation services, court administration, district justice offices, central court and stenographers.

To reassess or not to reassess

That is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outraged senior citizens , Or to take arms against a sea of troubles in an election year, And by opposing end them?

Or just kick it down the road. Our Hamlets on the Susquehanna have found another way to delay the long overdue property tax assessment for the 3rd time. The last one was in 1965 so what's the hurry? The Bond Brothers aka Luzerne County Commissioners Todd Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak voted Wednesday to delay reassessment another year. What the hell, they found some cover from the appraisal company that said it's alright because of more time needed to review properties because of declining real estate values in some areas, a recent flood and new growth indicators. The contract with 21st Century Appraisals Inc. expires March 31 and they're willing to extend it for a mere $850,000 because they want to get it right. But no political considerations affected this decision. Republican Commissioner Steve Urban has been screaming "politics " since the first delay but Skrep denies that. Who do you believe?

Luzerne County Budget

The good news is there is no new borrowing. The bad news is just about everything else.

This year's plan comes in with about $2 million less spending than last year. To get there Commissioner Chair Maryanne Petrilla wants to close Moon Lake Park and the ball fields at the Forty Fort Airport plus all employees are to take 12 furlough days without pay. Commissioner Steve Urban wants 24 furlough days. That will be problematic because it needs agreement from the unions and the row officers. One of the problems with our present form of government is the row officers are not accountable to anyone which hopefully be rectified by the new county charter that will be written by the Government Study Commission. I have to disagree with the Blogfather, I think the unions will cooperate to save as many jobs as they can. The problems we face today are not the fault of the unions but the past administration of the Bond Brothers.

The biggest hole in the budget is the more than doubling of debt service from $9.5 million this year to $21.7 million in 2010. Every budget that Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid with the help of Sam Diaz put together refinanced existing debt and had unrealistic revenues.


Chief of Budget and Finance Tom Pribula has told the commissioners the county should not borrow any money next year. Pribula said Skrepenak wants "another Diaz budget with unfunded debt."

"Your eyes would come out your head if you realized the ridiculous, fictitious revenues that were in this county that never came to fruition, which has put us in this spot."

Profile in courage Commissioner Greg Skrepenak doesn't want to eliminate any county jobs and will not support a tax increase.

I've been bitching about the creative accounting (lies) in the Luzerne County budget process as long as I've been blogging.

From 2007

Another work of fiction


With all the outrage over the Debit Card scandal the fact that the latest Luzerne County budget doesn't add up has been overlooked. This year's plan has an eerie resemblance to last year's nonsense with even more invented revenues. Last year the budget called for $4 million from land sales that never happened and this year the figure is $6.3 million. Last year the county was supposed to get $3 million from beefed-up tax collections and they inflate that to $14 million from collection of unpaid property taxes for 2008.

The number that jumps out at you in the end is a 18.5% increase in property taxes. Steve Urban did the responsible thing and voted for the budget to move the process forward but he is not happy about it.

"I'm going to vote to put the budget on the table, but I'm going to tell you right now, I'm not going to vote on this tax increase," Urban said. "And I'll vote to shut this place down on Dec. 30, if we don't have a budget that makes sense to me and we don't have the spending cuts that I believe are necessary to move this county forward."

I doubt that the tax increase will be that big but in the end there will be a tax increase. I realize that taxes are the price we pay for civilization but I want to be assured that my tax money is being spent for things that are absolutely necessary. There have always been rumors of no show jobs and documented cases of outright theft in the Luzerne County courthouse that makes me reluctant to support a tax increase. I'm coming around to Big Dan and the Yonk's idea of just blowing up the place and starting over.

Vonderheid would do it again

Former Luzerne County Commissioner Todd Vonderheid told the the Luzerne County Government Study Commission on Wednesday that he would vote to lease the PA Child Care juvie prison in Pittston again.

CV: In November 2004, commissioners Vonderheid and Greg Skrepenak signed a $58-million, 20-year lease for a juvenile facility owned by Hazleton-area attorney Robert J. Powell and western-Pennsylvania businessman Gregory Zappala...In January, disgraced former judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan were charged with taking more than $2.8 million in a kickback scheme to send juveniles to Pennsylvania Child Care LLC's facilities. Powell pleaded guilty in July; Zappala has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing..."I'd sign that lease tomorrow, with only two alterations," he said.

I'm not going to rehash all the controversy about that decision because everybody who reads the local papaers and this blog knows the story. I just find that statement to be in-fucking-credible.

Vonderheid is now the head honcho of the local chamber of commerce that always tells us that we have "great work ethic" and promises "good paying jobs." Under his stellar management the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry just avoided having it's headquarters sold at tax sale.

While he was in office he teamed with Greg Skrepenak and an army of consultants to produce county budgets that were works of fiction resulting in ever more borrowing every year just to pay the bills. That's why I call them the Bond Brothers.

Now we have to deal with Skrep and Vondy's lack of basic math skills and Commissioners Maryanne Petrilla and Steve Urban will have to bite the bullet and raise taxes to balance the budget. They are already getting beat up in the newspapers comment sections about the possibility. Last week Urban told me that they are not going to borrow any more money and I don't think that they could even if they wanted to because the county has reached the limit.

Nobody wants to pay more property taxes but I don't see an alternative.

Who wants a new Luzerne County prison?

At least 12 people do according to a story in the CV today. Those 12 want to sell the county the land to build a new one but we didn't get any details about who or where. Selling land to the local government is very profitable. The old prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre has had a lot of problems including the the Hugo Selenski escape. Fortunately, I've never been inside the place (except to visit) but I think it's over a 100 years old. Commissioner Steve Urban thinks that the old juvenile detention center should be renovated and turned into women’s prison and the Water Street jail could be made into a male only facility after a face lift. The Bond Brothers (Skrep and Vondy) have been pushing for a new facility that may cost $100 million plus.

Maybe it's time to look at other ways to deal with some of our "criminals" as the stories about the Drug Court in both papers illustrated today.

Drug Treatment Court graduates’ big day comes

First drug court graduation held

Congratulations to Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak for his leadership on this issue.

More fun with reassessment

A $7.2 million contract followed by a $850,000 extension and 21st Century Appraisals Inc. is in line for more. The Bond Brothers don't want them to include a statement called a tax-impact estimate to help property owners figure out if reassessment will cause their taxes to go up or down. The result will be more appeals than anticipated. But Commissioner Todd Vonderheid had this brilliant statement about the process, "It’s about whether property is assessed correctly, We have been trying to communicate that. People believe it’s about taxes.” Of course it's about taxes Todd. People want to know how much they will have to pay at the end of this yellow brick road if we ever reach it.