Relief for rapidly developing areas
Bill would exempt some from soaring city property taxes
Longtime homeowners in Pittsburgh’s rapidly developing neighborhoods could get protection from increasing city property taxes under a proposal announced Tuesday by state lawmakers and Mayor Bill Peduto.
State Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, along with state Rep. Ed Gainey, D-Lincoln-Lemington, and Rep. Sara Innamorato, D-Lawrenceville, will introduce bills in the state Legislature that would allow Pittsburgh to implement a Longtime Owner Occupant Program, or LOOP, they said at a news conference at the mayor’s office.
If passed, the program would exempt certain homeowners — those who, for example, have owned property for a minimum of 10 years in a rapidly developing neighborhood — from having to pay increased city property taxes or allow them to defer the taxes to the next owner.
The legislation would not apply to school district or county taxes, which together make up the bulk of most homeowners’ property levies.
“This is an attempt to allow those folks to stay in those neighborhoods, those folks who have
spent many, many years, in good times and in bad,” said Mr. Costa, whose district includes the city’s fast-growing neighborhoods of Lower Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Friendship and East Liberty. “We don’t want them to be forced out of their homes because of the positive economic development that’s been taking place.”
Mr. Gainey and Ms. Innamorato represent districts that include portions of Lawrenceville, East Liberty, Bloomfield, Highland Park and other neighborhoods.
Mr. Peduto, alongside Pittsburgh City Council members Deb Gross and the Rev. Ricky Burgess, who represent neighborhoods that include Lawrenceville and East Liberty, said Tuesday that the city is analyzing housing data and is poised to begin a public process to decide which neighborhoods would qualify for the protection.
The city includes both “very hot and cold markets,” Mr. Peduto said. “This is an issue that does not affect all of Pittsburgh. We still have vast areas of this city where disinvestment is the greatest reason that causes people to move out. But it does affect the areas that have seen rapid growth.”
Ms. Gross said that median housing prices in Lawrenceville and Bloomfield have gone from about $100,000 to $250,000 in just five years.
Counties assess property for taxation purposes. The state Senate and House bills would amend a 1988 law that allows Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to manage property taxes, but which has not been utilized, according to the lawmakers.
Mr. Costa said the earliest the Legislature would be able to consider the bill would be March or April, but that he and his colleagues hope to get it to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk “as soon as possible.” He said he has not yet had “specific conversations” on the legislation with House or Senate Republicans.