No 2018 increase in fees for owners of properties with code violations declared as blighted in Reading, PA

Reading, PA: After deliberation, blighted vacant property costs to owners will not see an additional fee increase, as 2018 begins.
 

The proposed $15 fee involved assisting the costs for recording servicer fees to processing blighted property to potentially be scheduled for demolition. The fee was based on a 2016 law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, allowing fee not to exceed $15 to be imposed for the recording and demolition purposes.
 

The additional fee was rejected due to arguments there were already enough fees in place, and the $15 fee would be a 19 percent increase to current costs.
 

According to the article “Berks commissioners vote no on fee to fight blight” from WFMZ-69 News, the current fees, totaling $82, are distributed as follows:

$40.75 goes to state judicial fees
$11.50 goes to the community development office for affordable housing
$5 is the record improvement fee
$10 is the fee to certify the personal identification number
$14.75 is left over for the county recording fees
 

The possibility of imposing additional fees may be brought up again in 2018, but with a separate costs proposed or other distinctions to validate the increase to blighted property owner’s costs.

 

 

 

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