Penn State College Republicans adviser Charles Gable announced his candidacy for State College Borough Council yesterday.

Gable, a Penn State graduate and employee of the Office of Physical Plant, said the borough needs to focus on creating jobs to infuse the current market with greater opportunities to keep people in the borough after graduation.

"We need to work on that," he said. "We need to create reasons for them to stay."

Gable said the university takes the economic development opportunities and it has "begun to leave the borough behind."

College Republicans Chairman Andy Banducci said Gable is knowledgeable about the university and the borough, and said he supported Gable's platform to create more desirable jobs.

"The fact is, the borough has to keep up," he said. "Right now there are very little reasons for young professionals to stay here."

Banducci said he could not anticipate any opportunities in State College after he graduates from Penn State.

"At this point, there aren't very many reasons for me to stay here," he said. "It is a college town, but it doesn't have to exclusively be a college town. That's Charles' vision."

Gable said part of the process would involve reworking the budget and providing "tax incentives" for new businesses, as well as property tax cuts for current homeowners.

"There are areas where we can trim some more fat," he said.

In addition to his plan for local economic growth, Gable said he plans to tackle "the growing drug crisis" in the borough.

"It should [be addressed]," he said. "It is a growing problem here and county-wide."

Gable said he wants to improve the economic situation in the borough for young entrepreneurs by providing financial aid to help new businesses. He added that the borough has a loan for first-time homebuyers to help with the financial burden and added that the idea behind this loan could "extend into the borough with businesses" as well.

Borough Planning Director Lu Hoover said the First-Time Homebuyer Program is funded by the Community Development Block Grant, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Home Investment Partnerships Program, both federal funding programs.

"[Small businesses aren't] something we've funded before," she said. "It involves a lot of regulations. It's a difficult program to fund."

Hoover said the borough has thought about providing a loan for small businesses similar to Gable's proposal.

"It has been done in other communities," she said. "[But] the borough has generally placed a higher priority on the First-Time Homebuyer Program."

Borough Council President Tom Daubert said that of the basic budget, the largest budget item is the police.

"With the size of the town, we need much more for the police," he said.

Daubert said that the local taxes for the borough are "quite small" with the tax for homeowners in the borough at $300 per year. "The school tax is the big tax," he said. "We don't have anything to do with that."

State College Police were not available for comment.

The Republican primary will take place in May, followed by an election in November.