MOTION OF THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY
Amending Article IV, Rule D of the Rules of Council for Allegheny County Council, entitled “Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and establishing a new Rule E within Article IV, entitled “Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA)” in order to provide clear guidance for the factors to be considered by the Council prior to approving TIF and/or LERTA proposals.
Whereas, municipal participation in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) tax abatement programs is governed principally by the Tax Increment Financing Act, 53 P.S. §6930.1, et. seq.; and
Whereas, the first sentence of the full section of the TIF Act, 53 P.S. §6930.2(a), clearly establishes that “[t]he General Assembly finds and declares as follows…there exist in urban communities in this Commonwealth areas which have become blighted” due to six specifically delineated factors: (1) unsafe, unsanitary, inadequate or overcrowded living conditions, (2) inadequate planning or excessive land coverage by the buildings thereon, (3) the lack of proper light and air and open space, (4) the defective design and arrangement of structures, (5) faulty street or lot layout, and (5) economically or socially undesirable land uses; and
Whereas, the statement of purpose contained within 53 P.S. §6930.2(b) clearly establishes that “[i]t is found and declared that, in order to maintain the public health, safety, morals and welfare of the people of this Commonwealth, and to increase their commerce, welfare and prosperity, and in order to further remedy the conditions found to exist in this Commonwealth as declared in the Urban Redevelopment Law, it is essential to provide new development opportunities to prevent, arrest and alleviate blighted, decayed and substandard areas in municipalities, to increase the tax base and to improve the general economy of this Commonwealth.”; and
Whereas, municipal participation in Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) tax abatement programs i...
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