Requests for tax abatements in Pulaski County may soon get some additional scrutiny.
Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer told the county council Monday the CDC plans to put together a review committee for abatement requests. “With any town, it would be me and then that town’s appointee to the CDC and then a town council member and then maybe another CDC member,” Origer explained. “And then the county council, it would be me and then Doug [Roth] as your appointee to the CDC and then one of you and then maybe one other CDC member.”
He said the county would benefit from the additional input. “Maybe what we would normally do in a particular situation was more generous than is really called for,” Origer said. “And if I got people besides me – because, you know, my job is obviously to glad-hand with the businesses and keep them happy – and it’s not me saying, ‘Sorry, I’m not giving that.’ it’s a committee saying, ‘Let’s find the right balance between encouraging growth in this particular instance and watching out for how much new property tax revenue’s going to be coming into the county.'”
Origer added that there are several options available when it comes to granting tax abatements, and the committee would help him choose which is best for a particular business. “You can set it for however you want,” he explained. “So that committee would work with me and say, ‘Alright, we like this project. It’s not great but it’s good, so maybe we’ll recommend a six-year tax abatement, instead of the full 10 years, or we’ll do ten years but instead of giving them 100, 90, 80, 70 [percent], we might do like 50, 40, that sort of thing.'”
As part of the process, Origer says the CDC may require businesses to fill out an additional form explaining the project in more detail and why it deserves a tax abatement. Council members said they liked the idea of the review committee. Origer said the CDC will put together some guidelines at its next board meeting, before asking the county council and local town councils to appoint representatives.
