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BY DEBORAH LAVERTY
dlaverty@nwitimes.com
219.762.1397, ext. 2223 | Monday, February 11, 2008 | (1 comment(s))
HOBART | The debate over residential tax abatement is far from over if the lively discussion at last week's City Council meeting is any indication.
Mayor Brian Snedecor said the issue will resurface at the Feb. 20 City Council meeting when officials will be asked to decide whether to permanently eliminate residential tax breaks or tweak an existing measure.
The existing measure leaves dormant the issuance of such tax breaks for new homes.
City Councilman Pete Mendez, D-2nd, pushed the issue by saying he wanted to add an amendment to the existing measure to completely eliminate residential tax abatements.
But other council members, including City Councilman Brian Rosenbaum, D-3rd, questioned whether Mendez's amendment would supersede what's already in place.
In January, Director of Development Denarie Kane confirmed tax breaks for new homes would no longer be allowed this year because of a sunset clause disallowing them.
The clause shelves residential tax abatement because the city's tax rates are now competitive with four neighboring communities, she said.
That clause is based on a formula she and other city officials set up in 1999.
Mendez said his concern is that tying the city's program to the tax rate formula might mean it could resurface in the future.
"Eliminating residential tax abatements was the will of the people who voted for me and voted for Brian Snedecor," Mendez said.
Snedecor sided with Mendez.
"It's the will of the people, and I think we should take a stand," he said.
City Councilman Matt Claussen, D-at-large, said he wanted to have City Attorney John Bushemi put any proposed amendment in writing before he would vote on it.
He and other officials agreed to table the issue until the Feb. 20 meeting.
Claussen and City Councilman John Brezik, D-5th, spoke of keeping residential tax abatements as a future tool if so warranted.
And Brezik said he wasn't ruling out ever giving tax breaks for new home construction on the city's west side.
Several residents, including George Rainey, spoke strongly in favor of eliminating residential tax breaks.
"Voters voted overwhelmingly to get rid of it. ... I'm in favor of no more residential tax abatements," Rainey said.
The issue of residential tax abatements came to a head last summer when the City Council was asked to vote on a residential tax abatement request for about half of the proposed Cressmoor Estates subdivision.
Hundreds of residents attended the meeting to protest and the City Council's tie vote had to be broken by then-Mayor Linda Buzinec, who voted in favor of the abatement.
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George wrote on Feb 11, 2008 10:22 AM: