It’s budget crunch time for Luzerne County Council

Luzerne County Council is now less than a month away from its Dec. 13 adoption of a 2023 budget.

Council would have to identify approximately $7.1 million in cuts or new revenue to avoid a proposed 6.75% increase, which equates to $55 more annually for the average property assessed at $132,776.

Three more meetings are scheduled before the adoption, with the first this Tuesday and the others on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6.

County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce is set to present his proposed budget during Tuesday’s budget work session, which follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Council Chairwoman Kendra Radle said the remaining two divisions will present their proposed budgets on Nov. 29 — administrative services and operational services.

Administrative services includes the election bureau and seven other departments: human resources, purchasing/acquisition, information technology, GIS/mapping, licensing/permits, community development and tourism. Jennifer Pecora started overseeing this division in September.

Operational services covers engineering, roads and bridges, planning and zoning, 911, emergency management, buildings and grounds, the boiler plant and solid waste management. Greg Kurtz was hired in September to oversee the operational division.

Budget alterations

Council members have not started voting on changes they want to make to the budget.

Budget amendments were scheduled for the Dec. 6 meeting, but Radle said it’s also possible council may start deciding on amendments at the Nov. 29 meeting.

Amendment approval is the only way for council to definitively track the bottom-line impact of spending cuts (or additions) and alterations to revenue.

Manager search

In addition to the DA’s budget presentation Tuesday, council is set to discuss an advertisement and timeline for the new citizen county manager search committee that must be activated now that Randy Robertson is no longer manager.

As previously reported, council named Brian Swetz acting county manager. Swetz was already intimately involved in the county budget as budget/finance division head.

Under the county’s home rule charter, council must rely on an outside committee to seek, screen and conduct initial interviews of county manager applicants.

Seven citizens served on the most recent search committee, while there were five on the first one. Council unanimously agreed to appoint only three citizens — the minimum required in the charter — for the new committee.

Following past practice, council will publicly interview citizen applicants before voting on which three will serve.

Some council members also have proposed specifying a shorter time frame for the committee to perform its work. The last search committee started meeting in August 2021 and presented three finalists to council in early March 2022.

Although council can recommend a timeline, it’s ultimately up to the committee to decide how much time it needs to come up with recommendations.

Search committee members must “possess relevant qualifications, knowledge and/or experience in the search for, recruitment of and identification of qualified candidates for county manager,” the charter says.

Instructions to attend Tuesday’s meeting remotely are posted under council’s online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.

Management position

The county has publicly advertised a management position overseeing the prothonotary and clerk of courts offices.

James Haddock has been overseeing the offices since September 2013. Based on unofficial results in the Nov. 8 general election, Haddock has declared victory in his race for state representative in the 118th Legislative District.

The prothonotary/clerk of courts manager position is advertised at $52,000 to $56,000 annually, and applications are due Dec. 1, according to the posting on the human resources career opportunities section at luzernecounty.org.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.