PHOENIXVILLE — Gov. Josh Shapiro made a visit to downtown Phoenixville Friday afternoon to tout his administration’s efforts to cut taxes, provide economic relief for families, and invest in the Main Streets and small businesses.
The revitalization of Phoenixville started with its downtown, Shapiro said.
“Every community has a downtown, they have that in common, but they don't all look like Phoenixville's. Most of them aspire to look like Phoenixville's. This downtown happened because the people who live here willed it into existence,” he said.
Revitalization also happened, said Phoenixville Mayor Peter Urscheler “because of programs like Main Street Matters, which is more than investing in a building, it's investing in our communities.”
“In Phoenixville, downtown truly matters,” said Urscheler, who served as Shapiro's tour guide as they strolled along Bridge Street, visiting four different stores along the way, before heading into Bistro on Bridge for his official press conference. “It matters much more than being an economic driver, it matters because it's where we come together as neighbors.”
In addition to the mayor, Shapiro was joined at the podium by Rick Stiger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; Jessica Capistrant, Phoenixville Regional Chamber president; state Rep. Paul Friel, D-26th Dist., and Zach Hoffman, owner of Bistro on Bridge, where the press conference was held.
Each highlighted a different element of Shapiro's economic program as a support for small and local businesses.
Business owners, said Hoffman, “take a huge leap of faith” when they decide to invest in a community. He would know. He left a corporate job that paid better to join his brother in investing in their eatery, now a Phoenixville standard, in 2009.
Nine years later, they invested $1.5 million into renovating the building. And there were times, he said, when they wondered how they would pay their bills if the business did not prosper. But it did. “We employ 125 people, 40 of them full-time, and we're able to contribute $25,000 a year” into organizations that support Phoenixville, Hoffman said.
“When people ask me if it was worth it, I tell them, I work twice the hours, make half the money and I'm twice as happy,” Hoffman said.
“Gov. Shapiro’s $20 million investment in programs like Main Street Matters demonstrates a strong commitment to reviving Pennsylvania’s historic towns and cities,” Capistrant said. “These investments empower entrepreneurs to grow, create jobs, and drive opportunity. By reducing red tape and providing critical resources, the state is fostering an environment where local economies can sustain and thrive. And these are true investments — every dollar spent on small businesses and economic development comes back through increased spending, higher home values, and a renewed sense of pride in our communities.”
One of the programs highlighted Friday was the Main Street Matters Program, which saw a $20 million funding bump in the 2024-2025 state budget. This program builds on and modernizes the Keystone Communities Program, “which is designed to encourage the creation of partnerships between the public and private sectors that jointly support local initiatives such as the growth and stability of neighborhoods and communities; social and economic diversity; and a strong and secure quality of life. The program allows communities to tailor the assistance to meet the needs of its specific revitalization effort,” according to the DCED website.
“That program passed by one vote,” Shapiro said Friday. “We have to keep making sure these Main Street businesses have the resources they need. Because we understand how critical Main Streets are to bringing people to Chester County and Pennsylvania.”
That same budget also included $500 million to support economic development, $400 million of which went to create the Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites (PA SITES) Program to develop competitive, shovel-ready sites for business expansion or relocation in the Commonwealth. The program received bipartisan support to attract more businesses and create good-paying jobs in the state, according to information provided by Shapiro's office.
Another is the 529 Savings Account Employer Matching Contribution Tax Credit, which incentivizes businesses to match employee contributions to tuition savings, making higher education more affordable for families, a program Friel said he was particularly proud to support.
“It demonstrates what's possible when people on both sides of the aisle are able to work together and a governor willing to do that as well,” Friel said.
Pennsylvania also enacted an increase in the Net Operating Loss Deduction Limit, which ensures that businesses can reduce taxable income by up to 80 percent by 2029. This keeps Pennsylvania competitive with other states, Shapiro's office wrote in a press release.
Of course, helping businesses to thrive is only half the equation, Shapiro said. “You need the people walking by these stores to have money in their pockets.”
Toward that end, Shapiro pointed to three programs to help families, seniors and students have fuller pockets.
Pennsylvania has expanded the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, providing $132 million in savings to more than 212,000 families, and introduced an Employer Child Care Contribution Tax Credit, enabling businesses to support employees’ childcare costs, according to Shapiro's office.
“For the first time in 20 years, we cut taxes for seniors,” Shapiro said Friday, referring to the increased Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program. According to the press release, this benefitted more than 500,000 seniors and people with disabilities with more than $304 million in assistance this year.
Pennsylvania also introduced the Student Loan Interest Deduction, helping graduates by allowing up to $2,500 of student loan interest to be deducted from their taxable income, the press release said.
“With the holiday season upon us, we’re putting more money back into Pennsylvanians’ pockets through meaningful tax cuts and making key investments in the places they love to shop and spend time with their families,” Shapiro said.