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The Altoona Water Authority on Thursday agreed to waive liens from unpaid water bills, along with tap fees, for properties that the Altoona Redevelopment Authority wants to rehabilitate -- although the Water Authority will recover those amounts by subtracting them from what it owes each year to the city for operating the city-owned water and sewer systems.
The authority's action was in response to a request last month on behalf of the Redevelopment Authority from city Community Development Director Eric Luchansky to forgive a $9,500 water lien for a former convenience store building on Maple Avenue at 29th Street that the RA wants to renovate -- with the hope that the concession would become the basis for a broader agreement, like those under which RA tax liens are forgiven by the city, county and school district.
After that request, Water Authority member and City Councilman Jesse Ickes, Water Authority solicitor Dave Gaines and City Manager Christopher McGuire discussed the issue, with McGuire suggesting the Water Authority should be reimbursed via the debt forgiveness, according to Ickes.
For the past couple years, the RA has worked with the newly reconstituted Blighted Property Review Committee to identify derelict buildings that aren't too far gone, after which it removes obstacles like clouded titles, large liens and mountains of garbage that would discourage private investment, before seeking proposals from contractors to fix up the properties and sell them.
Following the city's takeback of the water and sewer systems from the Water Authority about a decade ago, the authority has been paying the city an annual fee in a leaseback arrangement, providing the city a needed regular infusion of cash.
That infusion includes funds collected from ratepayers who live outside the city.
This year, the AWA is paying the city $7.3 million.
Under the arrangement approved Thursday, the RA gets the relief it wants, the city gives up a little money from its annual payment and the AWA remains whole, according to Ickes.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.