Not only in Steelton, but across the county, many municipalities are struggling to come to terms with how to move forward with this problem. Blighted and vacant properties reduce market value of surrounding properties, are tax delinquent, and consume many of the borough’s services including code enforcement, boarding up, and demolishing.

Then there is the loss in the quality of life and pride of the surrounding community and this can lead to even more blighted and vacant properties. This acerbates investors even further making it more difficult to rectify the problem.

Moving forward with a solution to rectify the blight property issue unfortunately, is not a linear process. Part of the process involves passing and enforcing borough codes. Often this is used as a measure to control new properties from becoming blighted properties. Properties that can already be considered blighted are served code violations but the owners ignore the violation. These are often properties that are tax delinquent as well and do not seem to have a vested interest in the community as a whole.

The process of removing ownership from an owner who continually fails to pay property tax and has left their property blighted or vacant is a long legal process that can take years and some owners find legal means of extending their ownership for decades.

One way for our borough to address these properties is to develop revitalization projects and apply for state and federal grants to purchase blighted and vacant properties from owners to develop new neighborhoods and amenities (parks, gardens, recreational facilities).

Another resource that Steelton could be involved in is the Dauphin County Land Bank. The Land Bank purpose is to acquire abandoned, run down, and tax delinquent properties and rehabilitate and sell the properties to new homeowners. Part of this process involves tax forgiveness on the property from both the borough and the school district, as well as half of the taxes collected in the first five years that the property begins to generate taxes.

I feel that the Dauphin County Land Bank could be a key player in revitalizing blighted properties in the borough. We will have to work closely with Dauphin County and the school district to move forward in projects the Land Bank pursues as there is always a concern of forgiving tax liability and future projected tax revenue for an undetermined time table.