Butler City Council on Thursday night granted preliminary approval to a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program.

The LERTA program provides a 10-year tax exemption for "certain improvements of deteriorated industrial, commercial and other business property and new construction in deteriorated areas," according to the motion.

As proposed, the measure would forgive 100 percent of taxes on improvements made by business owners to their properties in the city in deteriorated areas and would extend the same tax forgiveness to new businesses.

"It's important to note that the original property tax assessment still remains, so the city loses none of its existing tax base," said Jim Coulter, city solicitor.

The city would be responsible for defining what constitutes a deteriorated property.

Brian McCafferty, chairman of Butler Downtown's economic restructuring committee, said at the group's annual meeting on Nov. 10 that other cities already use the program to encourage existing business owners to improve their properties as well as entice new businesses to locate there.

Before the measure can be put into effect, its approval must be finalized by the city council and the city's other two taxing bodies, Butler County and the Butler School District.