Today brings news that not only has one county commissioner, Mr. Skrepenak, called for a criminal investigation into the reassessment process, this same commissioner has also now publicly, complete with a PowerPoint presentation for spelling out details, called for a delay in the process.
Not surprisingly, another commissioner has called it a political tactic, while the third commissioner has(at least to my reading of it)implied conditional support of a delay contingent upon abuses and/or inadequacies being proven.
This is getting to "spectator sport" status. And I am happy to say that things are working out almost exactly like I predicted to several friends when the first round of notices went out in the USPS. Of course, one not need be Kreskin to have seen all of this quickly turning cluster-licious.
Also in print this Saturday, the City of Hazleton is on record, via their city council, has having asked that the "all ahead full" become "all engines stop" with the county-wide reassessment.
If that's not enough, one newspaper has editorially all but accused this commissioner asking for
the delay of being a bad guy for doing so..."Bowing to intense public pressure, the first Luzerne County commissioner crumbled Friday..."
Yep, that's what the editorial contends, that an elected official, a public servant, actually had the temerity to listen to the loud voices of his constituents and act accordingly.
I feel almost stupid in saying this, because it's something all of us pretty much learn in elementary school, it doesn't even rise to the level of a civics lesson, but isn't what he did precisely what someone elected to public office is supposed to do, listen?
Skrep listened, then acted.
Elected officials are not supposed to dig in their heels and become immovable on matters directly affecting those who pay the taxes that underwrite the daily operation of the municipality in question.
The majority of people aren't happy.
Admittedly, a few are.
So far I've met two(2)county property owners who are OK with their new proposed taxes. One of the two will be seeing a respectable reduction, meaning that they've been overtaxed for several years. The other will receive but a slight increase due to the fact that their property is relatively new construction and was already heavily taxed, perhaps even excessively.
I'm also hearing that several area attorneys are quietly involved on the side of taxpayers. Just when these lawyers will openly join the initiative is unknown.
Be assured that a reassessment was overdue, and that it's necessary, and that you'll get no complaint from me on that. Also be assured that a reassessment has long been held to be political suicide for those setting one in motion. Defying all human tendencies of fight or flight, personnel working for the Reassessment Office are tremendous, and I mean courteous to a fault. I'll level with you, how they do it under the circumstances is a mystery, but they do.
In all of this, there is one undeniable element, one immutable, one fact cast in concrete, chiseled in granite, set with SuperGlue; thousands of mistakes, a mountain of huge errors, were made, which alone should be the biggest red flag we've seen waved in a long, long time.
Maybe his background prepared him for this day. Skrep seems to see the flag that others do not.
