“Ambitious” Goal of Meeting with Every Municipality and School Board in Adams County
GETTYSBURG, PA (November 2, 2017) – Officials with the Adams Economic Alliance (AEA) and the Adams County Office of Planning and Development (ACOPD) are in the midst of an “ambitious” goal—meeting with officials from every municipality and school board in Adams County during 2017 in order to educate, listen and gather feedback on each entity’s mix of land use and development with the ultimate goal of expanding the county’s tax base and economy.
“We are calling 2017 ‘the year of the municipality’ because my colleagues and I are focused on the ambitious goal of meeting face-to-face with officials from every single one of Adams County’s 34 municipalities and six school districts,” says Robin Fitzpatrick, AEA President.
“To date, it has been a very informative and rewarding process, as we converse with officials,” Fitzpatrick reports. “Each municipality has a distinctly unique approach to development; we respect what type of growth is welcome and where, and we want municipalities and school districts to know we are here to help, partner, and attract businesses and development of their choice in order to work together in expanding Adams County’s economy and tax base.”
Pennsylvania School Districts have three main sources of revenue: locally raised taxes, state appropriations and federal funds. Nationwide, state appropriations are the largest source of funding, providing more than 50 percent of the cost of public education. “While Pennsylvania has one of the highest per pupil spending rates in the country, nearly 60% is raised locally in school districts,” according to Chad Reichard, Legislative Director for Senator Richard Alloway, 33rd Senatorial District.
“Local governments and taxing bodies are sensitive to the size of the tax base and the need to expand it, so that they don’t have to raise taxes as costs and the need for services, increase. Much of this happens at the municipal level,” Fitzpatrick says.
AEA and ACOPD officials are preparing customized materials for every meeting, including maps that show AEA-funded business projects, and maps color-coded to show specific infrastructure and land development uses within specific municipalities or school districts. Sherri Clayton-Williams, Director of the ACOPD, is aided by Planned Community Areas (PCA) technology, which identifies parcels of land or buildings poised for development/redevelopment.
“In our capacity, we assist AEA by providing data and analytical tools to help visualize land use, infrastructure, transportation and other resources. One of the tools, the planned community areas tool is very flexible and is used to analyze a variety of data,” Clayton-Williams says.
“Meeting together with municipalities is very beneficial,” says Clayton-Williams. “It provides us with a lot of valuable information to factor into our economic development plan and strategy. This is crucial as we know that land use decisions are made at the local level.”
The next presentation being made by the AEA and ACOPD is scheduled for Biglerville Borough Hall on Tuesday, December 5 at 7 pm. All presentations being made by the AEA and ACOPD to township boards and school boards are open to the public.
The nonprofit Adams Economic Alliance (AEA), is comprised of three organizations: The Adams County Economic Development Corporation (ACEDC), the Adams County Industrial Development Authority (ACIDA) and the Adams County General Authority (ACGA). For more information, see adamsalliance.org, or follow AEA on Twitter (@AdamsAlliance), Facebook (Facebook.com/AdamsAlliance) and LinkedIn (Adams Economic Alliance).
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MEDIA CONTACT: KAREN HENDRICKS / HENDRICKS COMMUNICATIONS / 717-253-3553
