State Supreme Court dismisses appeal; Coal Township owes county at least $267,000

Francis Scarcella, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
Updated ·2 min read

Jul. 17—SUNBURY — Coal Township now owes the county more than $267,000 after the state Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed more than a year ago.

In May 2023, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted Coal Township an opportunity to appeal of a lower court's opinion to uphold a Northumberland County judge's ruling that forces Coal Township to pay back more than $267,000 in disputed prison construction permit fees to Northumberland County.

In a one line ruling issued earlier today, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.

The county paid two sets of third-party inspection fees — $161,724 and $220,801, the second under protest in 2017 — for the new county jail in Coal Township. The county filed a lawsuit in January 2018 to recoup the money. County officials claimed the fees were unreasonable, not enforceable by law, unconstitutional and invalid as a matter of law.

The former prison in Sunbury was heavily damaged in a January 2015 fire.

The original plan was to build a new prison on the former Knight-Celotex property site in Sunbury, but the county commissioners in 2016 abandoned that plan in favor of buying and renovating the closing Northwestern Academy as its new location. The new Northumberland County Jail in Coal Township opened when inmates were moved into the correctional facility in October 2017.

In a 2022 court decision, Commonweath Court Judge Anne E. Covey affirmed the August 2021 decision of Lycoming County Senior Judge Dudley Anderson, who ordered the township to pay back the county a sum of $267,320.98, with statutory interests and costs. The Commonwealth Court on Dec. 16 denied a request from the township to reconsider its decision.

Northumberland County Commissioner Sam Schiccatano, who maintained throughout the legal process the county was owed the money, said he wanted to thank his fellow commissioners for continuing to fight for the taxpayers.

"This was a long process and this was about doing what was right for the taxpayers," he said.

Schiccatano said the outcome should not burden Coal Township residents, and if it does, the Coal Township commissioners need to explain why.

"This money should have been put aside just in case," he said. "Hopefully they will be able to pay this back and if they can't they need to be transparent to what they did with the funds."

Schiccatano said the county will be filing the proper paperwork in the next few days to get the owed money back.

"This money will be used in the county for services for our taxpayers," he said.

Schiccatano said he hasn't spoken to the Coal Township Commissioners but hopes to hear from them soon.

Coal Township Commissioner Craig Fetterman did not return a call for comment.