Luzerne County has picked up $1.46 million in property that had been missing from the tax rolls through new software, according to county Manager C. David Pedri’s new division head summary for June.
The software, purchased from Rochester-based Pictometry International Corp., pinpointed all building footprint changes that occurred between flyovers in 2008 and 2016.
The county assessor’s office is reviewing approximately 12,000 structures and additions flagged by this software to identify ones that had not been detected by the office.
County officials have predicted revenue from added properties eventually will exceed the $50,000 software purchase.
The $1.46 million in property added to date will yield $8,700 in revenue based on the county’s current tax rate.
Pedri has promised to provide monthly updates on the added assessment.
The assessor’s office also plans to figure out the reasons why properties were not picked up. For example, some municipalities may not be forwarding or adequately enforcing building permits that alert the office to new construction.
Pedri’s update also noted the county collected $98.95 million from real estate taxes through the end of June, or 90.6 percent of the amount budgeted for 2017.
Collection is up because the county had collected 89.7 percent during the same period in 2016, the report said.
Some other highlights from the report, which has been posted on the manager’s section at www.luzernecounty.org:
• The average daily population at the county prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre was 498 — a 5.7 percent increase from May.
The facility has a capacity of 505. County officials have been pushing to keep the inmate count below capacity after years of overcrowding.
• The administration has selected a company to redo the county website, but details were not released because final negotiations are underway. The project is expected to begin this month.
The county’s capital budget earmarked $150,000 for the website upgrade.
• Children and Youth workers displaced by a fire in March have returned to their offices on Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre. No charges have been filed in the alleged fire bombing, which remains under investigation, officials said.
• The movement of records into a new county-owned storage building in Hanover Township was scheduled to begin Monday. The county’s leased storage space in the Thomas C. Thomas building on Union Street in Wilkes-Barre was deemed insufficient for record storage due to temperature extremes, lack of security, leaks and fire hazards.
