Harrisburg Has Paid More Than $630K In Debt Service On $3.795M Capitol View Loan

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Dauphin County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HARRISBURG. PA – More than $630,000 in city grant funds have been diverted to repay a federal loan for the failed Capitol View project whose bankrupt developer awaits sentencing for fraud.

City officials say they’re hoping David Dodd’s sentence includes some restitution for Harrisburg, which guaranteed a $3.795 million federal loan for the project in 2006 that Dodd never repaid.

Between that, unpaid property taxes and another unpaid loan from the former Mayor’s Office of Economic Development program, Dodd’s project has become a $5 million liability for the city.

That amount doesn’t include city legal bills from engaging in his bankruptcy and fraud proceedings, or to defend the city against lawsuits from contractors never paid for their work on the $28 million project.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/09/harrisburg_paid_all_630k_of_de.html#incart_m-rpt-2

Harrisburg Officials Say They’ll Compromise On KOZ Incentive

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Dauphin County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HARRISBURG – City officials will decide next week whether to allow tax breaks to entice badly needed development on 10 properties – most of which do not generate any revenue currently.

Representatives from the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation, Hamilton Health Center, and the local public school district lobbied City Council’s Community Development Committee Wednesday night for a Keystone Opportunity Zone.

Target sites include four closed schools and the half-finished Capitol View Commerce Center abandoned by developer David Dodd, who’s now awaiting sentencing for defrauding the $28 million project of federal funds.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/08/harrisburg_officials_say_theyl.html#incart_river_default