Commissioners support LERTA renewal for Wharton Township
The Fayette County commissioners are in philosophical agreement over renewing a five-year real estate tax abatement program for Wharton Township, a move that supervisor Joe Henning said would affect all business-zoned property in the mountain municipality. Henning said that the three township supervisors approved a renewal of the Local Economic Revitalization Act District last year, but the Uniontown Area School District board only recently approved the measure.
One immediate upshot of renewing the LERTA district, which temporarily forgives real estate taxes as an inducement for new construction, would be construction of a day care center and a Head Start program facility at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa, said Henning.
A spokeswoman for Uniontown Area School District Superintendent Charles Machesky confirmed that the school board approved a LERTA renewal for Wharton Township at its last meeting.
In order for a LERTA to take effect, all three taxing bodies – county, school district and municipality – must approve the measure. Failure by any of them to do so automatically scuttles the program.
James A. Hercik, CPE, the county’s chief assessor, said the original five-year Wharton Township LERTA expired in June 2001. He said the township approved a new one last year, but it never went into effect because the school district and the commissioners didn’t act on it.
Hercik said that assessors in his office are currently in the process of affixing an assessed value on the Woodlands Outdoor World, a massive outdoor goods store that opened on the Nemacolin property late last year.
Since the new facility opened when LERTA was not in effect, Hercik said the county considers it fully taxable and does not intend to make the LERTA retroactive, to coincide with the township’s approval of the tax exemption program.
Commissioners Sean M. Cavanagh, Vincent A. Vicites and Ronald M. Nehls each said that while they knew little about the specifics of the latest Wharton Township request, they’ve always voted for LERTA when asked.
“I read about it in the paper. I’ve never denied LERTA to any township that’s asked for it. I have a lot of respect for Joe Henning,” said Cavanagh. “I think that Fayette County needs to have tax incentives for people to expand or build new businesses.”
Consistent with his prior position on LERTA, Cavanagh said he is “100 percent” for renewing Wharton Township’s LERTA status, if that’s what the township supervisors want.
Vicites said that he, too, first became aware of the new LERTA request while reading the newspaper. Vicites said those requests are usually handled by Hercik’s office, which makes sure they comply with state requirements before forwarding them to the commissioners for a vote.
“We’ve never turned down any LERTA’s of this nature before, as long as they meet the state guidelines,” said Vicites. “To my knowledge, every LERTA that’s met the legal requirements has been approved.”
Vicites said the commissioners are usually the last taxing body to approve LERTA requests. He said he’s prepared to do so after reviewing each case on an individual basis, mostly to make sure that state requirements are met.
Nehls said that while he doesn’t know a whole lot about the new Wharton Township LERTA, he is prepared to follow the supervisors’ lead, provided that whatever questions he has are answered to his satisfaction.
“I would agree with that (renewal),” said Nehls. “If everything falls in line, and the township supervisors are the ones pushing for it, I think they are the ones who know what they want in their municipality. But there are some questions that I would have, just to make sure that everything falls into line.”