Properties sold at tax auctions and sheriff sales will be assessed an additional $250 surcharge under a plan likely to be approved this week by Westmoreland County commissioners.
The proposed ordinance is expected to generate about $75,000 to bolster funds available for demolition and rehabilitation of abandoned property. The surcharge would apply to most buyers of foreclosed and tax delinquent properties.
“There’s a lot of blight in our downtowns that still need to be recovered and it will be nice to have a fund to do that with,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes.
Commissioners are slated to vote on the ordinance at Thursday’s public meeting.
State lawmakers last year passed legislation that allows counties to assess the surcharge of up to $250. Commissioners in 2018 implemented a $15 fee for every property deed and mortgage filed at the courthouse.
That fee has generated more than $1 million in revenue used to pay for demolition of properties throughout the county. About a dozen properties annually have been razed through the use of those funds.
The new fee is expected to be assessed on sales starting in July. The county’s land bank and redevelopment authority will be exempt from having to pay the surcharge on properties it purchases at sheriff and tax sales.
“I envision this to be a natural evolution of the work the land bank has been doing and allow them to establish a rehabilitation program,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas. “This can be a preventive measure to keep properties healthy and whole.”
Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority Director Brian Lawrence, who also heads the land bank, said the surcharge will be used to further retain structures that are not immediately in need of razing. Funds can be used to pay for environmental, engineering, design and other studies to assess a property’s potential.
Funds can also be earmarked to create a revolving construction loan program for developers of such properties, he said.
“We’re trying to preserve buildings. That’s what we do,” Lawrence said.
In addition to the existing demolition fund, the land bank also administers the county’s $10.4 million program financed with American Rescue Plan dollars to demolish or rehabilitate properties in Arnold, Greensburg, Jeannette, Monessen, New Kensington, Penn Borough and Vandergrift.
The five-year program has so far resulted in 239 demolitions and is targeting another 316 potential razings by the end of 2027. About $5.5 million remains available to spend in that program, Lawrence said.
Officials said they don’t expect money generated from the new surcharge to be immediately spent.
“We still have the (American Rescue Plan) funds and the land bank’s demolition fund, so those give the county time to build up this new fund,” said Commissioner Doug Chew.