A home rule charter is a written document that would transfer governing authority from state law to a local charter.
On Tuesday, a representative from the Department of Community and Economic Development gave a presentation to city council about what switching to a home rule charter would mean for the city, and what it would take to get to that point.
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“Cities in Pennsylvania such as erie have been failing for 50 years. This is an easy choice. Reading and Allentown both jumped out of third-class city right around the time they got out of their decline. I think Erie can get out of our decline. We just need the right policies,” said Chuck Nelson, a member of Erie City Council.
Erie is currently a third-class city under state law, which means the state can set certain limits as to how much the Erie government can tax among other requirements.
Under a home rule charter, Nelson said they can change some of those limits around so the city doesn’t have to keep increasing property taxes.