The planned Leg Up Farm children’s rehabilitation center is looking for a boost from local businesses, which could provide substantial tax benefits for contributors to the agency’s construction fund.
Leg Up Farm will host an information meeting at 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Yorktowne Hotel to discuss how businesses can earn state tax credits for up to 50 percent of a charitable contribution to the agency. The meeting will feature Acting Secretary of Community and Economic Development Tim McNulty and other DCED staff members discussing the mechanics of the tax credits through the Neighborhood Assistance Program, which Leg Up Farm is enrolled in.
Tax credits: According to the DCED, the actual cost to contribute $10,000 to an agency in the Neighborhood Assistance Program is only $2,440 when state and federal income taxes are considered.
The credits against the state corporate net income tax can be carried forward five years if a donor cannot use them immediately.
The credits can also be used against other taxes, including the capital stock, foreign franchise, bank and trust company shares, gross premiums, mutual thrift institutions and title insurance taxes.
Pennsylvania originated the Neighborhood Assistance Program in 1967 to improve the lives of low-income people in distressed neighborhoods, according to the DCED. The program is intended to create a partnership between community-based organizations, such as Leg Up Farm, and the business community.
“It’s really a way for businesses to steer their tax dollars to a project that will make an impact in their local community,” said Lou Castriota, Jr., chairman of the Leg Up Farm board.
Leg Up Farm: Founded in 1997, Leg Up Farm is still trying to build a facility in order to begin operations.
According to its mission statement, it would provide a team of therapists to design individual programs for each child patient, utilizing a combination of traditional occupational, physical and speech therapies and progressive therapies. The progressive therapies would include sensory play, massage, aquatherapy and recreational activities, such as horseback riding and hiking.
Leg Up Farm would treat children with problems including cerebral palsy, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down’s syndrome, mental retardation, learning disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, depression, abuse and pervasive development delay.
In March 2001, Leg Up Farm announced it had received a commitment from Barbara Warren allowing use of her 200-acre property in East Manchester Township. The agency plans to build a $9 million, 77,000 square-foot outpatient facility in the pastoral setting.
The center has been included on the state capital funding bill for $4.56 million, though the money has not been released to the agency. Castriota hopes Gov. Mark Schweiker’s administration will release the money before leaving office.
Castriota said Leg Up Farm has not set a date to begin its local capital campaign.
By CHARLIE YOUNG,
The York Dispatch/Sunday News