HARRISBURG - If Harrisburg offers a property tax
abatement to developers, city officials must ensure that approved projects
create local jobs for minorities and benefit the city, according to residents
who spoke at a public meeting Wednesday night.
City officials sponsored the public meeting at the school
district's administration building to discuss a proposed 10-year citywide tax
abatement under the state's Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance law.
Mayor Eric Papenfuse first pitched the idea of tax breaks
to spur new construction privately to school board members earlier this year.
Members of his administration then spoke to a school district committee in
August about the economic development tool often known by its acronym, LERTA.
Wednesday's meeting was intended to fulfill a requirement
of the state law by holding a public meeting to discuss boundaries.
Under a LERTA plan, property owners would continue to pay
existing property taxes, but would not be required to pay additional taxes on
new construction or improvements for up to 10 years.
None of the dozen or so speakers Wednesday night
completely objected to the idea of using tax breaks to entice developers to
build affordable housing and new businesses, but many shared concerns about the
implementation of the plan.
City Council member Susan Brown-Wilson said councilors
have been reluctant to support such tax abatements in the past because they
weren't set up to benefit the city. Rather, they were set up to benefit
developers.
Many homeowners who bought houses created under previous
LERTAs simply moved away after they were required to start paying full taxes,
she said.
She suggested creating a "structure" for the
LERTA that would require homeowners to stay at least five years beyond the expiration
of the abatement.
Property owners also should not be allowed to build
homes, move away and then rent them out either, she said.
"We need to
close that loop," she said.
Developers should also be required to create local jobs
that pay prevailing wage, she said.
"You can't walk in here, take the incentive and then
walk out without giving anything back to the city," she said.
Les Ford, a city activist and former mayoral candidate,
shared concerns about quality of construction and housing density.
"Developers tend to want to get the most bang for
their buck," he said, so they build high-density housing, which doesn't
benefit the city.
He also thought developers should be encouraged to
disperse their investments throughout the city instead of concentrating on a
single area.
Several speakers insisted that projects provide local
jobs for minority contractors, subcontractors and workers.
Sheila Dow-Ford, chief executive officer of Dow/Ford
Strategies, said the city must have a structure in place, and possibly a
"claw-back provision" to ensure compliance with minority
participation goals.
Previous projects in the city have promised to hire
minorities, she said, but didn't follow through. She cited a federal project to
cut curbs throughout the city as a recent example.
School Board Member James Thompson said the wording of
the city's resolution proposing the LERTA must ensure minority hiring and local
jobs or it will not get support.
He agreed that previous projects in the city have fallen
short with developers saying, "but we tried.
"No more, 'We tried,'" he said after
Wednesday's meeting. "'We tried' is not good enough. It's important for
our board to take a strong position on this."
Training and education to prepare local minorities for
the jobs will need to be incorporated into any plan as well, he said.
Development that could bring residents into the city
would be good for the school district, Thompson said, because it would grow
attendance. The city also needs more quality, affordable housing, he said.
Wednesday's meeting lasted about 90 minutes and ended
with Papenfuse assuring attendees that their concerns could be incorporated
into the proposal. He said the next step was for city council members to craft
a resolution.
To succeed, the plan would need to be approved by the
council, the county and the school district, which heavily relies on property
taxes.
Source: Penn
Live
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