LAWRENCE COUNTY Stays on taxes don't pass muster, controller says

Property owners will be asked to pay up or their property will be sold.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- It appears that Lawrence County Treasurer Gary Felasco may not have been the only person with an improper court stay placed on his property.
Lawrence County Controller Maryann Reiter said her office has checked 38 stays placed on property in the county tax claim bureau, and none had proper paperwork to support the designation.
"Not one of them had a court order to support it. We couldn't find anything at all. All of the active ones we have now are 30-, 60- or 90-day stays," she said.
Felasco was removed as the county tax claim bureau director after The Vindicator reported Feb. 27 that he and his wife, Jeanine, had not paid property taxes on their Cunningham Avenue home since 2000. County computer records show that court stays were placed on the property, allowing it to escape the yearly tax sale for delinquent taxpayers.
Felasco has since paid his taxes, but said he had no excuse for not paying them. He added that he did not put the stays on his property nor did he instruct anyone to do it.
The Pennsylvania State Police are now investigating the matter under the direction of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office.
List
A list of court stays generated by the county on Feb. 26 showed that 45 stays had been placed on property throughout the county. Reiter said the list of stays she checked was printed sometime after that point.
County records show that some of the taxes on the 45 properties listed on the Feb. 26 list have since been paid.
Those remaining with court stays that have no court orders can expect to get letters in the mail, Reiter said.
The controller said Packer Thomas, an auditing firm hired by the county, has been instructed to write letters to the 36 property owners telling them they must pay their taxes or the property will be included in the September sale of delinquent properties.
Reiter said her office is also checking federal bankruptcy records to make sure that all of those are current. People in bankruptcy are also kept from the yearly tax sale.
Felasco could not be reached Friday for comment.
Other investigations
Since Felasco's tax matter was revealed, several other investigations involving his office have begun.
The Pennsylvania Auditor General was called in to look at an alleged improper transfer of county liquid fuel funds to the county general fund last year. Felasco contends the money was needed to pay the bills, but state law governing those gas tax funds permits the money to be used only for road- or bridge-related projects.
The state attorney general is also investigating allegations that Felasco misused his county cellular telephone by using it to give directions to an adult-oriented party advertised on a Web site with links to sexually explicit photographs.
cioffi@vindy.com