The Lycoming County Commissioners approved the certification of the 2026 tax rolls as presented at their weekly meeting by Brooke Wright, chief county assessor.

According to the documents from Wright, the county has 52,044 taxable parcels and 2,131 exempt parcels for a total of 54,214 total parcels. The assessment for the taxable parcels is $5,805,638,254 and $1,066,748,710 for the exempt parcels for an assessment of $6,872,386,964 for the total parcels.

The extensive list of exempt parcels prompted Commissioner Scott Metzger to question if there was a breakdown of the parcels to determine which are nonprofits and which are not.

“We have true nonprofits and we have nonprofits that are making millions of dollars,” Metzger said.

“We have to look at that and have a discussion with those entities about what they can bring to the county,” he added.

Examples of entities that are exempt are hospitals and colleges, but the exempt parcels must be used for the stated purpose. The example Wright gave was a vacant lot can’t be exempt from paying taxes, because it’s not be used for the stated purpose.

Wright told the commissioners that she would compile the information about the exempt properties for them.

Other actions by the commissioners and Wright acting as the Board of Assessment Revisions, included approving the following real estate refunds: Michael and Linda Tate, $2,370.03 because the building on their property had the incorrect square footage; and Larry Boudman, $101.29 due to his property being destroyed by fire.

Under agenda items the commissioners approved: awarding the bid for the used corn planter at the County Farm to Messick’s in the amount of $67,205; an agreement with Woodward Volunteer Fire Company for accessibility work related to the property being used as a polling site; an amendment to the agreement with Donald Griswold, Karen Griswold, Cynthia Niehaus, Deborah Carpenter, James Carpenter and Melanie Webb extending the lease for the English tower site to 2045 at the same rate of $1,000 annually for the delivery of two tri-axles to a sub-base; the 2025-26 Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) grant application to the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency in the amount of $420,000; ratification of the PHARE Condition Grant agreement with Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency in the amount of $925,000; and the appointment of Howard Fry III to the Zoning Board effective 11/13/2025 through 12/31/2028.

Three change orders with Keystruct Construction LLC related to the new Coroner’s Building were approved. They were for $17,808, $1,941 and $13,605.

The purchase from Huffman’s Office Equipment in the amount of $15,452 for the Coroners Building was approved. The commissioners noted that the amount had initially been much larger, but with the help of the coroner, Charles Kiessling, the cost was reduced.

The commissioners announced that a special commissioners meeting will be held at 10 a.m., Nov. 25 at the Commissioners’ Board Room, 3rd floor Third Street Plaza, 33 West Third St. to introduce the 2026 budget. This is a Tuesday meeting due to Thursday being Thanksgiving.

The next regularly scheduled meeting is at 10 a.m. Nov. 20 at the Commissioners’ Board Room.