I recently published an article in The Legal Intelligencer titled, “Real Estate Matters in Monetizing Municipal Assets.” From the article:
Municipalities under financial pressure from rising budgetary costs and long-term obligations are increasingly looking for options to “monetize” publicly owned assets through transfers to private entities. Especially attractive are municipal water and wastewater systems. With
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Nearly two years after Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse first proposed it, the Harrisburg School District has approved a new, ten-year tax abatement program for residential and commercial development in the city.
As reported by The Patriot News:
The program would provide a 100-percent tax break for 10 years to improvements on residential properties
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We previously reported on Mayor Eric Papenfuse’s controversial plan to triple the local services tax in the City of Harrisburg (a tax that overwhelmingly affects commuters, not residents). After securing the needed sign-off from the Commonwealth Court in January, Papenfuse’s plan was stalled by City Council as it worked through numerous other changes proposed to…
As 2015 winds down and we prepare to welcome 2016, many smaller municipalities, municipal authorities, and other public entities may be putting the final touches on last-minute financings, or preparing for new financings in early 2016. In many of these issuances, the term “bank-qualified” will be used.
For such issuers, bank qualification is a means…
Municipalities, school districts and other governmental entities in Pennsylvania may want to sell or lease their assets for a variety of reasons. Governmental entities facing financial distress may sell or lease assets to generate a substantial upfront payment that can be used for a variety of purposes, including paying down debts resulting from labor and…
Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse announced today that he would seek to raise the Local Services Tax (LST) for workers in Harrisburg from $52 to $156 per year. The move would affect both City residents and the tens of thousands of people that commute into the City every day to go to work. The preliminary revenue…
With relatively little fanfare last year, shortly before he was given an early retirement by the voters, Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania signed into law Act 199, which amends the Commonwealth’s program for distress municipalities known as Act 47.
Act 199 makes numerous changes to municipal recovery in Pennsylvania. While most of the attention has…
From the Patriot News, comes a story that Mayor Eric Papenfuse will be introducing a new 10-year tax abatement program for new residential and commercial construction throughout the City:
Under the proposal, owners of existing residential properties would not pay additional property taxes on any improvements for 10 years, no strings attached. …
The
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The Patriot News is reporting that the City will be holding a meeting tonight to discuss a possible new LERTA tax-abatement program in the City. LERTA (short for “Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act”) is a state law that permits local jurisdictions (counties, municipalities and school districts) to offer real estate tax incentives to spur…
It’s no secret that the City of Scanton is facing tough times. Operating under an Act 47 designation of distressed status since 1992, the City faces enormous financial pressures – most notably with respect to its pension obligations. According to the most recent report prepared by the Pennsylvania Public Employee Retirement Commission (based on 2013…
