Proposed fee on Allegheny County real estate filings could help fight blight

Allegheny County could adopt a program to help flight blight and demolish vacant buildings around the county.

An ordinance scheduled to be introduced Tuesday by District 9 Councilman Bob Macey, D-West Mifflin, would create a $15 fee to be applied to deed and mortgage recording transactions. Revenue generated from that fee would be deposited in a fund to support the demolition of vacant, dilapidated properties.

“We need to be able to make our communities a little more appealing to home buyers and new businesses,” Macey said. “One of those ways would be to get rid of some of the blight, and make our communities and our areas a little more attractive to people. Also, the fact that the communities don’t have the finances to do this work. Although the county has stepped up on many occasions to help our communities, especially for emergency purposes, we would still like to move forward.”

The proposal puts demolition costs at about $10,000 to $12,000 per project.

“You take any of the communities that are the manufacturing and mill towns,” said Macey, who represents several Mon Valley communities. “We have old housing stock that is blighted, or are not what you would say are sellable or rehabable.”

Clairton, McKeesport, McKees Rocks and parts of Pittsburgh could all benefit, he said.

A state law passed in 2016 allows counties to charge up to $15 on deed and mortgage recording transactions to raise money to address blight. Since then, 19 counties throughout the state have adopted such programs, according to state Department of Community and Economic Development records.

In Southwestern Pennsylvania, that includes Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Lawrence, Somerset and Westmoreland Counties.

Counties that operate the Act 152 program are required to report revenue and funds allocated to projects to the state Department of Community and Economic Development each year.

Westmoreland County, which adopted the program in November 2017, generated $335,535 in its first year of operation and $313,260 in 2019, its second year, according to state Department of Community and Economic Development records.

The county completed eight demolition projects in 2019, ranging from about $9,000 to $75,000.

That included the demolition of the Belvedere Hotel along Route 66 in Oklahoma Borough, which was completed in October.

Allegheny County could raise about $2 million per year from such a fund, according to figures included in the proposed ordinance.

In 2018, 127,565 eligible deed and mortgage transactions were recorded, according to the proposal.

“I think it has a solid funding base, and it would just enhance the ability to get rid of some of the blight that all of the other methods or funding sources can’t, or don’t have the wherewithal to do,” Macey said.

Allegheny County already operates the Vacant Property Recovery Program, which acquires vacant properties and transfers them to new owners who can get them back into use.