Shen. Valley suing borough for owed PILOT funds
SHENANDOAH – The Shenandoah Valley School District announced their intent to pursue legal action against Shenandoah borough at Wednesday’s school board meeting for owed funds from a 1960’s housing authority agreement.
School District Solicitor Robert E. Matta provided a statement on the issue on behalf of the board.
Per Matta’s statement, Shenandoah borough owes $134,487.63 in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) for the year’s 2000 to 2015. The funds are owed through a 1967 agreement between the borough and the Schuylkill County Housing Authority.
Matta said the agreement outlined how Federal Housing and Urban Development funds would be paid to the borough in lieu of taxes for the Shenandoah High Rise downtown and Shenandoah Family Development in Turkey Run, and the borough would make pro rata payments to the district and Schuylkill County.
“The amount due the taxing bodies was determined by a formula, which included a pro-ration of such payment based upon the County, Borough, and School District tax rates,” Matta said.
The borough stopped making payments to the district and county in 2000, and the matter came to light in January of 2020, Matta said, when the district received a $46,732.83 check from Shenandoah’s former borough manager.
That check represented 2016-2019’s PILOT payments.
The district received another check in July of 2020 for $11,756.40, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020.
Shenandoah Valley, Shenandoah borough, and Schuylkill County officials met last year to resolve the matter, Matta said.
“The Borough requested that the District make an offer to settle the matter,” Matta said. “The District’s offer was the full repayment of all funds due and owing (without interest).”
Matta added that the district was willing to structure payments over several years, to minimize the financial impact to the borough.
“The Borough made a counter offer to settle, which was deemed minimal in relation to the amount owed, and rejected by the School District,” Matta said. “No further discussions were held.”
“The Shenandoah Valley School District has an obligation to its taxpayers to collect all amounts due and owing,” Matta added. “As a result, the Shenandoah Valley School District has no choice but to file a civil lawsuit against the Borough seeking the past due amounts, along with interest from the date when each annual payment was due, court costs, and attorney fees.”
The school district, Matta said, will also ask that Schuylkill County join in the lawsuit.
“We as a school district believe that we are owed funding, and we hope that litigation will get to the bottom of it,” Dan Salvadore, school board president, added.
In other business, the school district:
- Approved Tenure for Jamie Buriak, Molly Maloney, and Kassandra Stewart;
- Approved the School Emergency Operations Plan;
- Approved the Schuylkill County Guest Teacher Program for Christopher Circelli and Cody Wetzel;
- Approved a letter of intent to retire from Gloria Laudeman, special education teacher, effective June 30, 2021;
- Retroactively approved payment of December bills;
- Approved the following Schuylkill County Tax Claim Bureau Repository Sales:
– 328 West Chester Street to Suly Solano for $2,944;
– 120 South Market Street to Alexandre I. Dos Santos for $1,500;
– 121 South West Street to Charly Abranson Rodriquez for $1,595;
– 100 Schuylkill Avenue to Onesimo Lebron Garcia for $1,777; - Denied the following Schuylkill County Tax Claim Bureau Repository Sales:
– 420 West Mt. Vernon Street to Manuel Rivera Balverdy for $1,500;
– 206 West New York Street to Isaiah Santiago for $1,500; - Approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the SVESPA through 6/30/21;
- Approved the revision of minimum acceptable bids for repository sales to $2,500 for improved lots and $1,500 for unimproved lots;
- Approved a letter of resignation from Tori Correll, assistant drama advisor;
- Approved Meghan Artley as Assistant Drama Advisor;
- Approved the use of the school auditorium and community room by Schuylkill County Track and Field Officials.
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