LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A property tax hike looms in Lackawanna County. As leadership continues to disagree on how to move forward, the taxpayers weigh in.
County residents expressed Wednesday they want to see the commissioners working together, all three, the majority, and minority parties.
Meanwhile, the county faces some serious financial problems as we near the end of the year.
"Commissioner Chermak was asleep at the wheel, so were the other commissioners that's the honest to God truth," said Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan.
Commissioner Gaughan doubled down Wednesday on a comment he made quoted in a local newspaper Sunday.
"Why are we blaming Chermak? You got two guys in there, you should work together," Madison Township resident Joe Antidormi said.
"Blame the other guy, he's the minority commissioner you have two votes he has one vote the math doesn't work out," said Charlie Spano from Scranton.
Some Lackawanna County residents expressed their frustration over the matter at Wednesday's commissioner meeting.
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The finger-blaming stems from the county's failing financial state.
Facing a projected $11,300,000 shortfall by the end of 2024, Lackawanna County could see significant financial changes.
"The county needs to knuckle down we gotta make some tough decisions," said Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak.
Just two weeks ago, the commissioners brought forward the findings by Philadelphia-based financial consulting firm, PFM Group, suggesting spending cuts which include the new hiring freeze, and reallocating federal funds.
The friction lies with the suggestion of also increasing property taxes in Lackawanna County, but residents still want to hear more options brought forth from the commissioners, before a tax hike is implemented.
"I believe that one of our problems is fraud waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Are employee layoffs possibly on the table?" said Scranton resident Joan Hodowanitz.
"We're trying to make it through the end of the year, we're working with financial experts, we're developing that plan which we will produce very soon to get us through the end of the year, and then also for next year in 2025 and looking forward five years," Commissioner Gaughan stated.
"I've been saying this all along I've been saying it for four years, we need to look at our expenses, and we need to make cuts and I'm simply not going to raise taxes to simply cover the deficit I'm not going to do it," Commissioner Chermak said.
There's no word on exactly how much the proposed property tax increase might cost residents.
They plan to make it public by October.
