Logan asks Rural King to clarify store fee
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The Logan Township supervisors recently worked with the management of the new Rural King on Plank Road to revise signs located near the store’s cash registers that inform customers that the store is charging a 1% “economic development fee” for purchases under $1,000.
The revisions emphasize that the fee is not a government-imposed tax.
The revisions were made because store customers had contacted the township in the belief that Logan was receiving the money.
“There’s a lot of confusion,” said township Manager Tim Brown at a recent supervisors meeting.
Rural King is charging the fee to help pay “for the costs of improvements on this site (e.g. buildings, facilities, common plazas, private roads, parking areas and other improvements) within or for the benefit of the project,” the new signs state. “This is a private fee initiated by the private developer and not a government-imposed tax or fee by Logan Township or Blair County, and is in addition to applicable government-imposed sales tax,” the sign states in a separate paragraph.
The initial signs also identified the fee as “private” and “not a tax,” but didn’t do so in a separate paragraph or quite as emphatically.
Township officials are pleased with the changes, said Logan Planning Director Cassandra Schmick.
The company is adding the fee with its new stores, according to store Manager Vladimir Blazanin.
It’s a new trend in retail development, Schmick told the supervisors, based on information she received from company representatives. It fits with the company’s acquisition of troubled properties that need extensive rehabilitation, according to Schmick.
The fees can pay for both capital improvements and maintenance, according to Brown.
Customer questioning of the fee has been “minimal,” and the revisions have made those questions even more minimal, according to Blazanin.
“Most customers understand,” he said, adding that customers don’t seem to mind given the store’s good prices.
Some of the township supervisors asked whether the company had the right to charge the fee.
He had never heard of such a thing, said Supervisor Joe Metzgar.
He’s “astonished” by it, said Chairman Jim Patterson.
Why not just include it in the cost, Metzgar asked rhetorically.
It leaves “a bad taste,” Patterson said.
“They can charge what they want for the things they sell,” said township solicitor Dan Stants, indicating that there are no legal impediments to the store’s policy. “It’s a way of funding the development,” he said.
The fee is waived if “a single receipted purchase” – which could comprise any number of items – reaches $1,000, Blazanin said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.