Wyoming Valley Levee fee bills factoring in a new increase were mailed last week to 14,153 property owners protected by the flood-control system along the Susquehanna River, according to the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority.
Residential property owners will pay $16.56 to $33.12 more per year, while the annual increase will range from $33.12 to $536.64 for commercial, industrial and tax-exempt buildings. Fee amounts are based on the assessed value of structures.
Authority members who oversee the levee said the hike was necessary because the fee is the sole revenue source to maintain the system, and the $1.2 million the fee generated annually wasn’t keeping pace with the average $1.89 million needed each year.
Christopher Belleman, the authority’s executive director, said his office received several inquiries from bill recipients who were unaware of the increase. The authority held a public information session and released media alerts to prepare fee payers.
“We tried to do as much outreach as possible,” Belleman said, encouraging impacted residents to explore the authority’s website at www.lcfpa.org for more information about the fee and levee maintenance requirements.
Property owners must pay the fee by Aug. 1 to avoid a 10 percent penalty, he said.
Bills that are not paid by the end of the year will be forwarded to an outside collection company, which may result in additional penalties, the authority said.
Delinquent property owners facing financial problems may be eligible for a hardship program, Belleman said.
Levee fee bills typically were issued in October of the year they were due, but the 2017 bills were mailed June 1 because the authority needs the revenue sooner.
The mailing date had been slated for Feb. 1 in 2018 and going forward, but the authority board switched to a permanent April 1 date at the urging of Kingston resident Brian Shiner. Shiner said fee payers are hit with too many other first-quarter bills, including municipal and county real estate taxes.
“That shows the board does listen to feedback from the public,” Belleman said in reference to the date change.
Belleman said the authority was forced to resort to a fee in 2009 because county officials wanted to remove the expense from the county’s strapped general fund operating budget.
The authority is legally responsible for maintaining the 16-mile levee system under a 1996 agreement with the federal government hammered out as part of the levee-raising project, Belleman said. The authority does not have power under the law to force all county residents to pay the fee, he said.
“I think many people are still confused,” Belleman said in reference to the fee history and payer determination.
The fee boundary lines were based on which properties are protected by the raised levee, which was designed to prevent a repeat of the 1972 Agnes Flood, the record Susquehanna River flood until 2011. The fee is paid by the owners of properties touched by water in 1972 in Edwardsville, Exeter, Forty Fort, Hanover Township, Kingston, Luzerne, Plymouth, Pringle, Swoyersville, West Wyoming, Wyoming and Wilkes-Barre, officials said.
The increase amounts to 35 percent for the 12,403 residential properties, which make up nearly 88 percent of the fee payers. Their total payment will be $63.43 for residential properties assessed under $100,000 and $126.87 for those over $100,000.
The 517 commercial, industrial and tax-exempt buildings assessed under $100,000 also will pay 35 percent more, but those assessed over that dollar amount will pay 79 percent more, officials said. The total fee for non-residential properties ranges from $126.87 to $1,213.
