[UPDATE: 2013 Luzerne County Budget Released]
WILKES-BARRE — The 2013 Luzerne County Budget Proposal was set to be released to Luzerne County Council members today, but it hasn’t been made public yet.
The Proposed 2013 Luzerne County Budget was supposed to be released earlier this week but got delayed until today because County Manager Bob Lawton said he needed more time. Newswatch 16 spoke with Lawton off-camera earlier today, and here’s what he told us.
Initially, the county had a budget gap of $12 million.
But Lawton says every day he’s been narrowing it down bit by bit so that when it’s released. There is no gap.
He says he’s been trying to avoid a tax hike at all costs. He also says there will be less spending in 2013 than there was this year. We asked him if that meant layoffs were likely. He didn’t use the word layoffs, but said the County would be quote unquote right-sized.
Again, this budget is supposed to be emailed to County Council members and posted to the county web site at some point tonight.
A formal presentation of the budget will happen at the County Council meeting on October 30th.
