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Old Posted Dec 22, 2006, 1:07 AM
donybrx donybrx is offline
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Murray Complex proposal in Wilkes-Barre. Condos/ retail getting possible leverage:

12/19/2006
Tax plan may boost city project
BY MICHAEL P. BUFFER
STAFF WRITER


WILKES-BARRE — A Tax Increment Financing plan would provide $2.2 million for a $20.7 million project to develop the former Murray Complex in the city, officials said Monday at the Luzerne County commissioners’ meeting.

The commissioners and the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board will vote Thursday on the TIF plan, officials said. The city also has to approve the plan in which the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority borrows $2.2 million for improvements, such as resurfacing Ross Street and converting buildings into 55 condominiums.

The redevelopment project also would add 49,000 square feet in new commercial space. A fitness center and two or three new restaurants are planned on the 12.5-acre site owned by developer Daniel Siniawa Associates of Dickson City.

Under the TIF plan, tax money that comes from higher property values would pay off the $2.2 million loan. It would be in effect for 15 years beginning in August 2008.

The project is counting on another $2.6 million from the state to fund the project, according to TIF paperwork. The developer also expects to fund the project by selling 55 condo units for a total of $9.5 million.

County Commissioner Stephen Urban said he wants to learn more about the TIF plan, noting he already supported a county decision to provide a $1 million low-interest loan for the project.

“I don’t know how long we can continue to give away tax dollars,” Urban said.

Commissioner Todd Vonderheid, who didn’t attend Monday’s meeting, said the TIF plan isn’t costly because any increases in property tax revenue wouldn’t exist without the redevelopment project.

“The math is simple,” Vonderheid said. “We have a developer with great credentials who has already spent $1 million. He needs a little bit of help.”

The TIF plan would not prevent the city and school district from collecting revenue from other taxes, such as transfer taxes on real estate, the business privilege tax, the mercantile tax and the emergency service tax.

The county doesn’t get money from those taxes, Urban said.

The city is projected to get $1.4 million in revenue from the other taxes over 15 years, and the school district would get almost $400,000, according to a project analysis based on a series of assumptions.

mbuffer@citizensvoice.com
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