The City of Scranton has a population of about 40,000 and is located in a rural area of Pennsylvania. The unemployment rate in Scranton is 9%. A private company has recently approached the City of Scranton about the possibility of having the city provide a tax abatement to the company for the development of a new distribution center on the citys west side. The center would include several large warehouses and multiple parking lots to facilitate the storage, loading, and unloading of appliances for various large national manufacturers. The company estimates that there would be about 45 trucks utilizing the center per day. The company is asking for a tax abatement for city and school district property taxes for a period of 12 years, with all the property tax being abated in years 1-6 and one-half of the property tax being abated in years 7-12. The owners estimate that there would be approximately 70 new jobs created and have assured local officials that they would make an effort to hire local residents. State law indicates that the city government has the sole discretion in terms of deciding whether to grant a property tax abatement within the city limits. The school district may serve in an advisory capacity, but the final decision is made by the city, i.e., the city officials decide whether to grant the tax abatement on behalf of both the city and the school district. (The city does not have the option of just granting the abatement for city taxes.) The state law provides city governments with broad discretion in terms of whether to grant a tax abatement and the provisions of the abatement, such as the number of years and the level of the tax abatement. The property tax rate for the City of Scranton is currently $.48 per $100 assessed value and the property tax rate for the Scranton School Districts is $1.80 per $100 assessed value. Both jurisdictions utilize a 100% assessment ratio.

1. identify and discuss 2-3 major issues that you think the mayor and city council should address when evaluating the proposed tax abatement and 1-2 additional pieces of information that would be useful to have;