Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) is a tax benefit meant to encourage real estate development in deteriorating areas. It allows local taxing bodies to exempt from property taxes the value of improvements made to a property for a term of up to ten years. LERTA applications are submitted by municipalities or developers to Allegheny County Economic Development, who determines eligibility; local taxing bodies then decide whether to approve the LERTA exemptions after gathering public input.

In January 2023, a performance audit completed by this office found that between 2018 and 2021, LERTA was not being utilized to address deteriorating areas within most municipalities in Allegheny County. The full audit can be viewed here.

The dashboard below shows that most currently active LERTAs are located in or near Census tracts that are already doing well, with higher than average incomes and home values; meanwhile LERTAs are not being utilized in most of the County’s poorest Census tracts.