Luzerne County’s administration has included a division restructuring in the county’s proposed 2027 budget, county Budget/Finance Division Head Mary Roselle informed County Council during its budget work session Tuesday.
The suggested restructuring would eliminate the county Administrative Services Division Head position currently held by Jim Rose and a vacant grant writer position, Roselle said. Rose plans to retire at the end of this year, she said.
Duties of the administrative services division head would be reassigned to four other division heads who oversee budget/finance, operational services, human services, and the law division. Those four would then receive raises of $17,750 each, and the restructuring would save the county a net $200,000, Roselle said.
The council would have to publicly discuss and approve such a restructuring because the county’s home rule charter says the council has authority to combine, alter, and/or abolish any county division.
County Council confirmed Rose’s appointment as administrative services division head in April 2024.
The number of departments under the administrative services division have decreased since Rose’s hiring due to the council’s creation of a new community planning and economic development division in February. The new division assumed coverage of three departments previously assigned to administrative services — GIS/mapping, community development and tourism.
That left the following departments under administrative services: election bureau, human resources, purchasing/acquisition, information technology, and licensing permits.
Budget briefing
The county’s law division is seeking $1.07 million more in its 2027 budget, largely due to capital death penalty cases and pending litigation settlements, according to Tuesday’s presentation.
Expenses are proposed at a total of $4.3 million for the law division, which includes solicitors, conflict counsel, and outside legal costs not covered by insurance.
The conflict counsel office represents the indigent when public defender’s office attorneys have conflicts.
County Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene is requesting $720,000 for conflict counsel contractual services — a $149,491 increase from this year’s budget.
An accompanying explanation said conflict counsel is expected to try at least two death penalty cases in 2027.
Pennsylvania law requires minimum continuing legal education standards for defense counsel in capital cases, known as Rule 801 Certification.
The budget submission said the county does not employ any 801-certified attorneys, and there are “only a handful in the area.”
“This attorney and a separate investigator will need to be contracted to try these cases,” the submission said.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo’s budget message said a collective total of $584,000 is requested for anticipated costs linked to capital cases in the law division, district attorney’s office, public defender’s office and courts.
The two capital cases expected to go to trial in 2027 would involve the following defendants if they are convicted of first-degree murder, according to officials and prior published reports:
• Cesar Delgadillo, 40, is charged with what prosecutors allege was the tortured death of his adopted son, Jacob Delgadillo, 13, who died at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton on Aug. 4, 2025.
• William Benjamin Wolfe, 56, is charged with his alleged role in the tortured killing of a Michigan woman in Wilkes-Barre in a case that has become known as the “House of Horrors.”
Officials say a third capital trial is also possible next year for Bobbiejo Etzel, who is charged with the suffocation death of 14-year-old La’Niyah Clark.
County Councilwoman Joanna Bryn Smith, an attorney, said the county’s last capital conviction was in 1993 and overturned on appeal, makes the effort “essentially a huge waste of money.” The last time an execution was carried out here was in 1938, she said.
“These are very rare occurrences,” Bryn Smith said.
Councilman Chris Belles concurred, saying these cases “use a lot of taxpayer money.”
Skene said his office has no control over decisions to pursue the death penalty.
Litigation settlements are funded through the “special legal services” category in the solicitor’s budget. The proposed budget seeks an allotment of $1.99 million next year — a $754,634 increase.
The attached notation said this increase stems partly from nine pending suits that could be settled in 2027.
On the revenue side, $503,700 in receipts is projected in the law division next year, which is an increase of $23,733.
The operational services division budget was also discussed Tuesday. The planned county district attorney’s office budget presentation will be rescheduled.
The county administration is proposing a 1.99% real estate tax increase in 2027, largely due to negotiated wage commitments, court needs, and infrastructure. The council is free to make adjustments before the final budget adoption scheduled for Dec. 8.
The proposed budget is posted as an attachment to Tuesday’s session at luzernecounty.org.