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Thursday, April 2, 2009
Nutter administration opposes greening of tax abatement program

The Nutter administration has just shot down a City Council proposal to tie the 10-year property tax abatement program to the green building standard LEED.

"The bottom line is we don’t want to change the current tax abatement program," Deputy Mayor Andrew Altman said in testimony at a council hearing today. 

Altman stressed that the administration is very interested in doing more to encourage green building in Philadelphia, but - in light of the poor state of the development market - it is the wrong time to change the abatement program, which is a major inducement for builders.

"The abatement is one vehicle in Philadelphia that’s very clear, very certain. It’s not discretionary. You know what it is,. you put it into your pro forma ... Let’s not touch that."

The abatement program has always been controversial, but in light of Nutter's proposal to raise property taxes, it is receiving even more scrutiny. Back in December, the Inquirer had a long look at the fiscal impact of the abatement program on the city's budget.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Posted by Patrick Kerkstra @ 2:04 PM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
Posted 03:24 PM, 04/02/2009
FMT
No big deal, and the LEED folks shouldn't be dismayed. Builders will build to LEED standards soon enough anyway, out of necessity and economics as "green" building methods become more affordable/accessible.
Posted 05:15 PM, 04/02/2009
CleanupPhilly
Thanks for putting up that link to that excellent article by Kerkstra on the abatements. The city forfeits $5.4 million in abated tax revenue, I had forgotten. I hope you put a permanent link to that article like the Ink did with the Tony Wood article on property taxes state and citywide. People really don't the numbers for what was gained for what was sacrificed.
Posted 05:17 PM, 04/02/2009
CleanupPhilly
The people making a ruckus about the property tax abatement are willfully blind to the tiny cost relative to the huge benefit. What are these same folks saying about the $522 million in overdue property taxes, or the cost to the city of not implementing AVI?
3 comments
About Inquirer City Hall Staff
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jeff Shields, Marcia Gelbart, and Patrick Kerkstra take you inside Philadelphia's City Hall.
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