Luzerne County study commission OKs term limit and compensation recommendations

Luzerne County’s Government Study Commission approved recommendations on term limits and compensation Thursday.

The citizen commission is drafting a revised county home rule charter for voters to consider in November.

Term limit changes would apply to the county’s elected council, district attorney and controller.

The compensation alterations would impact council and the appointed county manager.

Term limits

Under the current home rule charter in effect since 2012, all three county elected offices have consecutive three-term limits, and partial appointed and elected terms are treated the same as full elected, four-year terms in defining the limit.

The recommendation approved by a commission majority Thursday would:

• Retain the three-term limit but not count elected or appointed terms of two years or less toward the limit.

• Provide a clean slate to incumbents by not counting terms prior to the new charter’s effective date toward the three-term limit.

• Keep the waiting period at two years for council members to return after they reach the term limit instead of extending it to four years.

The following commission members supported the term limit package: Vice Chairman Vito Malacari, Tim McGinley, Secretary Matt Mitchell, Chairman Ted Ritsick and Stephen J. Urban.

Commission Treasurer Cindy Malkemes and Mark Shaffer voted no.

Malkemes and Shaffer have expressed disagreement with the clean slate provision, saying the terms of incumbents prior to a new charter adoption should count toward the limit. They were open to last week’s suggestion that only full prior terms be applied to the limit, but that option was not presented for a vote Thursday.

McGinley and Urban had pushed to preserve the two-year waiting period for council members to return — a preference incorporated in the approved version.

Malkemes and Shaffer opposed two years, maintaining four years would be needed to level the playing field and diminish an advantage for those seeking return. McGinley and Urban said the institutional knowledge of past service is beneficial to the county and that the decision on which candidates to select is ultimately up to voters.

The greatest impact of the clean slate provision would be on county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce.

More than four years were cut from the maximum Sanguedolce can serve under the charter because he was initially appointed and then elected to partial terms when predecessor Stefanie Salavantis resigned to run for county judge.

Sanguedolce was elected to his first full four-year term in November 2023. If the proposed new charter is approved, he would be eligible to seek three more four-year terms.

Compensation

The charter change recommendation approved Thursday would:

• Increase the annual compensation for council members from $8,000 to $10,000.

• Raise the minimum annual salary for the county manager from 55% of the DA’s compensation to 75%.

The DA’s compensation must be $1,000 below the salary paid to a county Court of Common Pleas judge under state law. The state compensation for a county judge is set at $227,411 in 2025, which puts the DA salary at $226,411.

This change would not impact current county Manager Romilda Crocamo. The 75% would equate to $170,558, and her annual compensation is listed at $175,000 in both 2024 and 2025. Prior manager Randy Robertson received $181,500 annually.

• Make no mandatory change to the controller’s compensation,

Council sets the controller’s compensation and can alter it at least a year prior to a new term. There has been no change since council voted in November 2012 to increase the annual salary from $36,562 to $64,999.

Since home rule’s passage, council members never acted on a charter power to increase the council compensation for future members due to the unpopularity of pay increases, particularly for those seeking re-election.

Commission members said Thursday they want to provide an increase for council members due to their responsibilities and workload. They originally considered $12,500 but were concerned an increase to that amount would prompt voters to reject the proposed new charter.

Two commission members voted against the $2,000 council compensation increase — Mitchell and Shaffer.

Mitchell said he wants to keep the compensation at $8,000 because he is “leery of this tanking the charter.”

Shaffer said he supported $12,500, reasoning that the amount would encourage more working-class people to run.