By Anthony Hennen | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – A Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with officials from the Department of Community & Economic Development was united on the importance of improving workforce training and attracting new businesses, but differed on the value of improvement zones to revive cities in decline.
“We first have to recognize the fundamental issues we have,” said Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Browne, R-Allentown. “We need to build up the amount of productivity capacity we have and encourage more productivity from the same people we have, but also encourage more people to come.
“If we continue for the next generation or more to have a fiscal imbalance, it’s going to be really difficult to make our Commonwealth the place we want it to be.”
One angle the department is pursuing is a focus on small businesses.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our communities and we need to work with them,” said Neil Weaver, acting secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development. Weaver also noted the importance of working with organizations such as Invest Penn State and Partnerships for Regional Economic Performance to spur innovation and job growth on a local level.
Weaver also recommended the legislature increase the minimum wage.
“We feel very strongly that raising the minimum wage is providing a pathway to a livable wage,” he said. “We don’t see this as a job killer for a small business, affecting the small businesses we’re looking at.”
The department was aligned with the Appropriations Committee on the importance of tax credits attracting out-of-state investments, and encouraging a biotech corridor. Weaver and Rick Vilello, deputy secretary for community affairs and development, disagreed about the importance of City Revitalization and Improvement Zones, which allow struggling cities to use state tax revenue in an area of the city for redevelopment.
“It’s a source of great stress for me that this is a program the governor does not seem to support,” said Sen. Daniel Laughlin, R-Erie. “The City of Erie has some serious issues and CRIZ would help us with our economic development.”
“We don’t see the CRIZ program as being the silver bullet to solve the challenges of cities in Pennsylvania,” Vilello said. “We think it’s better to have a statewide strategy of investments in cities.”
That response sparked Laughlin and Browne to “respectfully disagree.”
“Without what we’re doing in Allentown, the town would be in a very different situation,” Browne said. “It’s something we should consider even if it’s not the same for other communities given that level of success. We’re in denial if we’re saying it’s not working.”