Chester, state talk infrastructure redevelopment

CHESTER >> City officials welcomed state Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis Davin and department representatives to discuss the new Restore Pennsylvania infrastructure proposal and its potential impact on the city.

The department’s $4.5 billion Restore Pennsylvania program, to be funded by Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed severance tax on natural gas production, would rebuilt state infrastructure and provide municipalities with aid in demolishing blighted properties for new development or green space.

“I appreciate the fact that the governor put this initiative forth. Hopefully the funding will be in place to make it a reality,” said Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland by phone following the meeting.

“We’d like to pick up the

pace on the demolitions en masse,” he said. The mayor believed the meeting to be the first between the state and a municipality regarding the proposal.

Kirkland said discussions included the longproposed demolish and rebuilding of properties in Highland Gardens, and demolish of blighted waterfront properties to create new commercial development

space. City and state official also discussed Chester’s financially distressed municipality status under Act 47 as a possible factor in expediting the city’s participation in Restore Pennsylvania.

“It would be a feather in the governor’s cap to simply say ‘I’m going to put forth a fulfilment effort in a community such as Chester that’s already on the rise.

I’m going to be the governor to get this city to the next level,’” said Kirkland. He said state officials are expected to return for tours of the city in the spring to survey the program’s potential impact.

According to a state press release, funding will be “administered by entities established by the legislature as land banks or demolition funds.” Should the Restore Pennsylvania initiative be passed by the legislature, it would “fund blight remediation efforts at a level far beyond any existing funding mechanisms at the local and state levels.”

The funding would be provided by a price-based severance tax based as outlined in the Restore Pennsylvania proposal. The fourtiered tax starts at a low of $0.091 per thousand cubic feet for a natural gas price range of $0.01-$2.99, and progresses to a high of $0.157 for price ranges $6 and up.

The tax will make no change to the natural gas impact fee, and applies only to wells that are subject to the impact fee. According to the proposal, “the pricebased severance tax will result in… effective tax rates” of 4.5 percent for 2019/20

and 2020/21, decreasing to 3.8 percent in 202½2, 3.4 percent in 2022/23 and 3 percent in 2023/24. Should be passed into law, it will be effective March 1, 2020.

Along with blight demolition, the nine-page proposal outlines infrastructure improvement in high speed Internet access; storm preparedness and disaster recovery – including flood control and stormwater remediation; manufacturing, business development and energy infrastructure; and transportation capital projects – including both road improvements and public transit expansion projects.