The mayor’s office has proposed to extend the Local Economic Restoration Tax Assistance program (LERTA) to begin to include the entire city up to the Bayfront, but the school board and county officials have yet to agree to the unprecedented proposal.

   

Earlier this month city officials began to voice their stance on newly elected Mayor Joe Schember’s initiative to extend the city’s LERTA program to include properties located north of the Bayfront highway, a move that would be considered unprecedented in the program's history. The LERTA program is a 10-year slopping tax assistance system to promote commercial and residential development in the city’s target area, particularly the inner city. The initiative comes on the heels of a major component of Schember’s campaign last fall, revamping the program, and is apart of his administration’s plan for his first one hundred days in office.

   

The current program was implemented in 2002 by Erie’s former mayor Rick Filippi to include most of the city. The plan was modified slightly to target the inner city and extended in 2012 by the city council under the advisement of former mayor Joe Sinnott. The current plan covers some 30% of properties in the inner city according to GoErie.com, including the new hotel developments, the Sheraton and Marriott located north of the Bayfront highway. However, these are the only two commercial or residential properties covered under the LERTA program north of the Bayfront Parkway.

   

Proponents of the idea cite the current plan does nothing to promote construction and revitalization to one of the city’s most attractive destination, the Bayfront. However, opponents including the Erie City School Board claim the tax exemption will only make the school districts current attempts to climb out of a financial crisis even more difficult. Erie school’s superintended Brian Polito citing his hesitancy about incentivizing development, “I’m a little concerned about it. Construction is going to happen there anyway. Does it make sense to incentivize that?”

   

The school district is set to receive a $14 million boost from Harrisburg to keep the district afloat for the current school year, but board officials claim Schember’s 10-year tax assistance program would potentially hurt efforts beyond state assistance to fund the district moving forward. As School board president Frank Petrungar Jr. stated, “we already lost out on the hotels down there,” claiming any other properties being included in the city’s tax assistance program would continue to cripple the districts ability to collect taxes, especially for commercial developments set to come along the Bayfront.

   

In a meeting that included the mayor’s office, Erie school board officials, City Council and Erie County state representative Kathy Dahlkemper were "constructive" and what Dalhkemper called the “first steps of this initiative”. Dahlkemper has yet to comment on her position regarding the proposed extension, but has been a component of Schember’s efforts thus far. The meeting on February 10 left Schember with a request by city school officials. Simply put, “more number-crunching is necessary before any approval will come from this body.” Schember will need to continue to seek the city and school districts approval before any real extension can be enacted.