Lackawanna County capital budget calls for new pickleball courts

Borys Krawczeniuk, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read

Oct. 16—With pickleball growing in popularity, Lackawanna County hopes to get in the game.

The county is contemplating building eight pickleball courts at McDade Park, according to its 2024 capital budget, unveiled Monday before a news conference.

Capital budgets, often funded by borrowing, allocate money to buy, install or upgrade fixed assets such as land, buildings, equipment or machinery. They generally represent one-time spending on things later maintained by money in annual budgets.

The $36.4 million capital budget says the county is reviewing a $1.2 million McDade project that would restore existing tennis courts and build the pickleball courts. The county plans to seek a state grant and will match that with either federal American Rescue Plan Act money or borrowing.

If the county doesn't get the state grant, the courts won't happen, Jeffers said.

The county plans to issue almost $43 million in bonds over the next two years to pay for the projects and refinance existing bonds.

Other projects in the capital budget include:

—Replacing 11 bridges and three retaining walls across the county and paving Stauffer Road in the Stauffer Industrial Park in Taylor, Montage Mountain Road in Scranton and Moosic, Main Street, Blakely, and Center Street, next to the county Government Center in downtown Scranton.

The retaining walls are on G.C. Smith Road in Elmhurst Twp.; Main Street in Blakely, which also includes sidewalks; and on Main Street along the Lackawanna River in Archbald.

A previous estimate pegged these costs at more than $22 million.

—$13.7 million to upgrade heating and air conditioning systems at county buildings and the Children's Library; redesign the Government Center entrance to lower heating and cooling costs and improve security; and replace extensively corroded steel supports for the sidewalk at the entrance to the Government Center.

"The project is expected to generate cost savings of $2,742,489 over 20 years," the capital budget says. The $137,124 in estimated annual savings will help pay off the borrowing.

—$1.81 million to replace the county prison roof and $985,000 on other prison projects, including $450,000 for washers and dryers and $250,000 for a security upgrade at the entrance.

—$2.5 million for renovations to the county public defenders' office and to relocate the room where jurors gather.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.