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Continuously increasing county property taxes in a stagnant housing market suffering from years of negative appreciation is a weapon of mass destruction.
The notion that increasing taxes on depreciating assets, many already functionally obsolete, will somehow improve the real estate tax base or sustain future revenue growth is absurd.
An alternative approach to help defray the cost of county home rule government may be to develop minimum standard county-wide ordinances that protect property values. This approach not only contributes to cleaning up and making the county more appealing but also rewards those who maintain their properties while penalizing those who don’t.
It should be noted that revenue generated by civil penalties imposed for home rule county ordinance violations are generally paid without an enforcement action being necessary. The violator simply receives a citation and then pays it.
To reinforce this proposal, results from the recent citizen survey conducted by the manager search committee found blight reduction as the most important community issue.
To many outsiders, Luzerne County conjures up a negative image. Let’s turn that image around and make our county more attractive and a great place to call home.
Michael Giamber
Fairmount Township