A state agency could freeze grant money for Lackawanna County and its municipalities if the assessor’s office doesn’t catch up on delinquent reports needed to calculate aid for schools and realty transfer taxes for individual transactions.

Counties are required to provide monthly reports on real estate sales to the State Tax Equalization Board so regulators can compensate for disparities in property value assessments.

“Should the STEB sales reports continue to be delinquent and not comply with the legislative mandate, DCED may elect to flag the county, resulting in a hold of all grant funding issued to … As of Tuesday, Lackawanna County sent STEB sales reports for January and February, with reports through at least May expected to be filed within two weeks, said Andy Wallace, chief of staff to the board of commissioners.

Recorder of Deeds Evie Rafalko McNulty explained the STEB reports allow the agency to plug sales data into a formula to generate common-level ratios, a figure that allows the county to generate fair market value from out-of-date assessments.

Nicole Reigelman, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, said the state agency does not withhold funding from schools whose counties fail to submit data to DCED.