City officials in Altoona are looking to take advantage of one of the benefits of the ACT 47 Recovery Plan by applying for available grants.
The application process is already underway in an effort to collect over $500,000.
An application to the Department of Community and Economic Development seeks $250,000 for coming up with a housing strategy and investment plan for downtown, $225,000 for information technology improvements and $44,000 for the Blair County Tax Collection Bureau.
The downtown project would include a detailed housing and commercial market analysis, conceptual design and strategies for building reinvestment efforts.
The IT improvements would include an audit to make sure any changes are cost-effective; an accounting, budgeting, procurement system; a conversion to broadband cards to improve public safety communications and reduce costs; and a system that would consolidate revenue collection.
The Tax Collection Bureau project would defray the cost of programming changes needed to enable the bureau to collect the additional earned income tax the city has levied as a result of Act 47 lifting the cap on that tax.
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