Lycoming County Studies Impact Fee Uses

Scott Detrow

Recent Stories

Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.

Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

August 30, 2012 | 11:04 AM

Pennsylvania’s natural gas drillers are cutting big checks this week. Their impact fee payments – in most cases, $50,000 per drilled well – are due by September 1. The Public Utility Commission will process the money and distribute it to state agencies and local governments by December 1.
With the money coming soon, counties and municipalities are figuring out how to spend it. Lycoming County’s commissioners are utilizing impact studies to figure out how to spend the estimated $4.8 million the county will receive. More from the Sun-Gazette:

The impact area of housing required a careful look at all aspects of housing, including temporary housing, hotel lodging, rental property supply, affordability, resale market, the supply of subsidized and public housing and population change.
The issue of water and sewer infrastructure had to take into account the fact that there already were demands for expanded water and sewer service before the industry arrived here, Kelly said.
Dr. Vincent Matteo, president and CEO of the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce, said he supports the studies, especially those that focus on infrastructure.
“Without infrastructure, you are not going to get industry to locate here,” Matteo said. “We have decent infrastructure now, but with the growth we see now and will see in the future, we’ll want to make sure our water and sewer is up to snuff. It’s critical to economic development.