Schuylkill Commissioners approved the hiring of a Wilkes-Barre Company for judicial sale assistance for the tax claim office last Wednesday.

By a 2-1 vote, commissioners opted to hire Elite Revenue Solutions LLC, formerly known as Northeast Revenue Service LLC. The company changed its name in 2020.

Commissioner Gary Hess voted no because he was not ready to vote due to questions about the company.

Commissioners Barron “Boots” Hetherington and George Halcovage Jr. voted yes. Before the vote, Hess motioned to table, which died for lack of a second.

“Was any other company looked at other than this Elite Company?” he asked.

County Administrator Gary Bender said no. The company, which runs the tax claim office in Luzerne County, was recommended to the county, Bender said.

Hess asked if a background check was done on the company.

“Yes. We realize that several years ago they had some issues. Those issues have been resolved,” Bender said.

He then said, “We feel comfortable bringing them on here,” although he didn’t say who the we is.

Hess said he was aware of the Northeast Revenue Service name before its change and the publicity surrounding the company.

Clerk of Courts Maria Casey said there were “pay to play allegations” with the company previously.

She questioned the need for the company and the running of the offices.

“Perhaps I am missing something, but when Angela Toomey and Denise Gerchak were in tax claim and assessment offices there was never any issue on judicial sales. There wasn’t one hitch when they ran those offices, so tell me what I am missing here. Now they are not here. We are not prepared to do a judicial sale,” Casey said.

She urged the commissioners to bring the two women back to their jobs.

Company audit reviews

Elite oversees the tax claim department in Luzerne County.

An audit from the office from the Luzerne County Controller as of May 2020 and signed by the county manager, controller and others has observations and recommendations. The purpose of the review was to find if the company is properly forwarding money to the county, evaluate the online payment process and research payments made by tax collectors to the company from taxpayers, according to the audit.

The review found the county is collecting the money and sending the funds in an appropriate time, the online payment process was found to be “lacking in security measures and confusing to the user,” but it appears to be corrected, some tax collectors made errors in making payments to the company instead of not properly processing the payment or forwarding the money to the taxing authority, the audit reads. Sometimes the property ended up on a delinquent tax list, the audit found.

The company also collects delinquent real estate taxes in Lehigh County. An independent audit report for the years 2017 through 2020 was done. Results were that Elite “retains possession and control of the collected funds until they are disbursed, and as such, Elite’s financial condition should be reviewed periodically,” a letter from Mark Pinsley, Lehigh County Controller says. He also notes its financial statement should be looked at by the fiscal officer at least yearly. Concerns should be discussed and documented with appropriate people at Elite.

In a letter to Timothy Reeves, fiscal officer of Lehigh County and Sean Shamany, president/director of operations for Elite, Pinsley wrote in part the company complied “in all material respects” with collecting the taxes for the aforementioned time period. No deficiencies were found in internal controls regarding compliance that are considered material witness, the letter states.

A material witness in internal control over compliance is defined as “a deficiency or combination of deficiencies in internal control over compliance, such that there is reasonable possibility that a material noncompliance with a compliance requirement will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis,” Pinsley wrote.

The letter ends by saying it is a public document but is “intended solely for the information and use of management.”