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Northampton Extends LERTA Tax Break Program for Businesses: Should Newtown Twp Do Something Similar?

Northampton Extends LERTA Tax Break Program for Businesses: Should Newtown Twp Do Something Similar? | Newtown News of Interest | Scoop.it

Northampton has extended by another five years a tax break program for certain non-residential properties that’s designed to encourage business and jobs growth.

 

An ordinance unanimously approved by the township supervisors at a recent virtual meeting granted the extension for properties included in Northampton’s Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program. The properties are in various locations and zoning districts throughout the township.

 

Properties in LERTA get a five-year exemption from additional property taxes resulting from new construction or alterations. The time period begins after an occupancy permit is granted for the new part of a commercial or business property.

 

In addition to the time extension, the ordinance approved at the meeting removes the Spring Mill Manor property from the township’s LERTA program but adds the Village Shires Shopping Center on Buck Road.

 

Areas now included in the program are the shopping center, the village overlay zoning districts in the township’s Richboro and Holland sections, and the Northampton Township Business & Technology Center on Jacksonville Road.

 

Township officials said seven businesses have taken advantage of the tax break during the past five years.

 

Northampton Manager Robert Pellegrino said the program has resulted in several new jobs at the business and technology center. It also encouraged the renovation and conversion of the previously vacant old Richboro School into a business that now employs 12 to 15 people, he added.

 

“We have a relatively small commercial tax base in Northampton, only about 5% of the township,” Pellegrino said. “I think it’s important we do whatever we can to support the growth of that commercial tax base.”

johnmacknewtown's insight:

Should Newtown Township also implement a LERTA program for the Newtown Business Commons? Listen to this discussion at a recent Newtown Economic Development Committee meeting: https://bit.ly/ntLERTA

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Newtown News of Interest
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