Erie Mayor Joe Schember has made updating a tax abatement program for new construction in the city of Erie called LERTA a top priority since taking office last year. The program is considered a powerful tool to boosting investment, yet it takes all three taxing bodies to approve the new program: the city, Erie County and the Erie School District. Schember told Joel Natalie on TalkErie.com that he thinks that all of the parties will sign off on the program in the coming weeks.
“I’m really pleased with what (Erie’s Public Schools Superintendent) Brian Polito is putting together and we’re going to talk about that tomorrow (Wednesday) and if all goes how I hope it will, we could have a LERTA in place city-wide by the end of April, potentially. Obviously, things have to go right, but I really like what Brian is recommending. We will run it by everyone in a big meeting, and we’ll see how it goes,” Schember said.
