Luzerne County Court seeking to add eight full-time positions in 2026

The Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas is seeking funding to add eight full-time positions in 2026, county Court Administrator Paul Hindmarsh said Monday.

The court is scheduled to present its budget during Tuesday’s County Council work session.

Budget worksheets included with Tuesday’s agenda indicated 15 positions would be added in court branches under the proposed 2026 budget, compared to 2025.

However, Hindmarsh said Monday that worksheet tally is inaccurate, in part because it does not factor in position restructurings that occurred this year to date.

The total collective compensation for the eight new full-time positions and a part-time one is approximately $359,500, according to budget and finance.

Three of the new positions are tied to the additional eleventh judge who will be selected by voters in the Nov. 4 general election — a law clerk, executive secretary and judicial assistant, Hindmarsh said.

The five remaining positions, he said:

• Three family court specialists to assist with the preparation of court orders at the close of hearings, providing immediate processing for those involved in a proceeding

• A probation program specialist to assist in juvenile court

• An additional protection-from-abuse, or PFA, administrative assistant to help with a rising number of PFA cases

Hindmarsh said Luzerne was among the top 10 counties with the highest number of new PFA filings in the state in 2024.

A part-time magisterial district judge position also is requested to assist where needed.

Overall, the court branch is requesting a budget of $21.9 million for 2026 — a $1.5 million increase.

On the revenue side, the court projects it will bring in a total $8.2 million to partially offset expenses, or $699,500 more.

Most of the court increase —$1.12 million — can be attributed to rising personnel costs, analysis shows.

The proposed budget requests $19 million for personnel, which includes payroll taxes and most benefit costs.

“Personnel is always the biggest portion of our budget,” Hindmarsh said.

Budget status

The county’s proposed general fund operating budget recommends a 1.9% real estate tax increase, which equates to $12 more per year on a residence assessed at the median $95,500, the administration has said.

Council is free to make changes before the Dec. 15 budget adoption deadline.

In addition to rising court costs, county Manager Romilda Crocamo has cited two other “major expense drivers” prompting the tax hike — $1.4 million for employee health insurance and $1.5 million for increased county prison system expenses, such as union wages, overtime and inmate medical care.

Council Chairman John Lombardo said Monday he will be proposing a budget amendment to eliminate all requested new court positions except those directly associated with the eleventh new judge.

“This is not the time for us to be expanding in our government,” Lombardo said.

Three other budgets will be presented Tuesday for the budget and finance division, administrative services division and general government.

Under the county manager portion of the general government budget, one proposed new position was added — a communications director.

That position is budgeted at $70,000, and the administration anticipates 87% of the salary would be covered by a state grant and reimbursements from departments primarily or solely funded by outside sources, including human service departments, the worksheet said. The proposed budget includes $52,500 in grant reimbursements toward the position cost.

In the administrative services division, a reduction of employees is identified due to the elimination of three vacant non-union positions in the human resources department, according to the budget worksheets.

No staff count changes were reported in the budget and finance division.

Tuesday’s council work session follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. A link for the remote attendance option is posted under council’s online public meetings section at luzernecounty.org.