Senate President Joe Scarnati wants to sell Pa. Lt. Gov’s residence at Fort Indiantown Gap

For Sale: One lieutenant governor’s residence, gently used, 2,400-square feet, three floors, with a pool. Inquiries to: J. Scarnati.

The top Republican in the Pennsylvania state Senate is circulating a bill to sell the State House, the official residence of the Keystone State’s lieutenant governor.

In a memo to his colleagues, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, says the house on the grounds of Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County, costs the taxpayers “upwards of $400,000 a year,” and with the residence now empty, there’s no reason to hang onto it.

“In light of Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman choosing not to live at the residence, I will be introducing legislation in the near future that would require the Department of General Services to sell the residence of the Lieutenant Governor,” Scarnati wrote in the memo he began circulating on Thursday. “Proceeds from the sale of this property will be used to assist our military veterans in obtaining affordable housing.”

Pennsylvania is the only state the gives an official residence to its lieutenant governor. But “while the residence has served as an asset for many decades, it is no longer a necessity of state government,” Scarnati wrote.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has also chosen not to live at the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg. Wolf, of York County, commutes into Harrisburg every day. The residence on the banks of the Susquehanna River is still used for official functions, however.