READING, Pa. \u2013 Reading City Council, at its Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night, reviewed a proposed bill to extend the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance for an additional 10 years.<\/p>\n
The LERTA was originally adopted in 1985 and was extended three times.<\/p>\n
Managing Director\u00a0Jack Gombach said a LERTA is a very standard tax abatement program to help incentivize economic development.<\/p>\n
Gombach said the LERTA expired last year.<\/p>\n
The LERTA exempts a portion of the assessment attributed to new construction or improvements on sliding scale for a 10-year period.<\/p>\n
The first year, the assessment percentage is exempted at 100% and is lowered by 10% each year, from the second year until the tenth year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason why we need this passed is so that the county can also offer its LERTA for city projects,\u201d Gombach said.<\/p>\n
Gombach said the city is aware that the developers for the former Dana Corp. site and the Fifth and Penn Streets development project have intentions of seeking LERTA approvals.<\/p>\n
Council will be asked to adopt the ordinance<\/a> (see page 5) next week.<\/p>\n Vacant property fees<\/p>\n