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WILKES-BARRE — A nearly $1 million reimbursement expected soon from the state will come at an opportune time for the city as cash gets tighter in the second half of the year, city attorney Tim Henry said.

The $960,000 payment from PennDOT will cover the state’s share of the $1.2 million settlement the city reached with Interfaith Heights Associates LP last year for land taken for the Coal Street widening project.

“The timing of this worked out perfectly for us,” Henry said Thursday.

The city paid the Interfaith settlement upfront with the understanding PennDOT would cover 80 percent of it and Luzerne County the remaining 20 percent, or $240,000, with funds from the Tax Incremental Financing program.

“It’s always that way with a PennDOT road project,” Henry said, explaining the city pays and then submits paperwork for reimbursement.

“We haven’t been reimbursed yet,” he added.

But the payment is in the final approval stage and the city should have the funds within a couple weeks, pretty close to the time frame PennDOT set.

Wilkes-Barre has been struggling financially and is in the state’s Early Intervention Program for municipalities on the verge of financial collapse.

Typically, the general fund balance built up during the first half of the year from tax collections is reduced in the second half through the payment of bills, payroll and benefits. The most recent monthly financial report from June showed a $9.3 million balance.

The TIF program overseen by Luzerne County set aside real estate tax revenue from new development in Wilkes-Barre Township and the Wilkes-Barre Area School District to pay for infrastructure improvements on Highland Park Boulevard and Mundy and Coal streets.

The city completed the more than $20 million Coal Street project in 2013. But to expand the roadway to five lanes, install new sidewalks and sewer lines, and complete other upgrades, land was taken from the Interfaith apartment complex. The city filed a declaration of taking in 2009. Five years later, Interfaith filed an inverse condemnation, alleging the city took more land than it initially said it would.

Henry said a board of review rendered an opinion but Interfaith disputed it and appealed to county court. On Sept. 20, 2016, the first day of jury selection for a trial, the city and Interfaith reached a settlement, Henry said.

Meanwhile, the TIF program has expired and the county, school district and township recently learned they will be able to split a leftover pot of $2.88 million.

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By Jerry Lynott

[email protected]

Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.