WHEREAS, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has established and is considering the establishment of additional Keystone Opportunity, Expansion or Improvement Zones (“KOIZs”) within the City of Philadelphia that provide state and local tax abatements, with the original intent of fighting blight and unemployment; and
WHEREAS, The City, pursuant to state authorization, has created numerous Tax Increment Financing Districts (“TIFs”) which provide local tax abatements to encourage commercial and economic development within the City; and
WHEREAS, Many of the current and proposed KOIZs and TIFs have been done on a real estate parcel by parcel basis with apparent little concern for a comprehensive approach to the development of a tax abatement incentive program aimed at the creation and retention of jobs within the Center City commercial hub, thereby creating confusion among persons wanting to do business within the City; and
WHEREAS, It is essential that a comprehensive program be developed for the core Center City office district that creates certainty as to what tax abatement incentives are available for developers and their tenants; now therefore
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, memorializes the City, through its Department of Commerce and Finance Department, to enter into discussions and to combine research resources with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, the Center City District and other interested parties to develop a comprehensive program to ascertain the feasibility of enacting legislation to provide tax abatement incentives in order to attract new, and to retain and grow existing, businesses within the core Center City office district.
End