If businesses don’t create jobs, they don’t deserve a tax abatement, according to a Pulaski County Council member, even if they’ve already been getting one for several years. Last week, the council considered several abatement renewal requests. All of them except one had met their requirements and were recommended for approval by the Community Development Commission.
But one particular tax abatement drew the attention of council member Alex Haschel. She pointed out that Winamac-based LaurDi Properties doesn’t appear to have any employment requirements it has to meet. “All of them, except the LaurDi, are businesses. The LaurDi is basically warehouses, that I saw,” she said. “So can you give me an idea of what is the difference between the businesses and the warehouses with the tax abatements? I mean, why do we consider warehouses part of the businesses?”
To answer that question, council members called up CDC Executive Director Nathan Origer. “Those are under the town council’s jurisdiction, and those fall under what is called the Economic Development Target Area Law,” he explained. “And in those areas, which have to be downtowns, they are allowed to do abatements if they do improvements that the council making the decision, so in this case the town council, believes that it is in some way improving downtown.” Origer said that often involves job creation requirements, but it doesn’t have to.
While LaurDi’s tax abatement is under the Winamac Town Council’s control, it still needed the county council’s approval because it affects the county. Council member Mike Tiede felt that since the company is nearing the end of its abatement period, changing course now would only make the county appear unfriendly to business.
Haschel disagreed. “We always, always have done, yes, and we probably haven’t questioned it before,” she said. “But now when I’m looking at this, and I’m sorry, but also when I know the boards that the person who is asking for this abatement is on so that it works so well with the town, of course the town is going to approve it. That’s just my opinion, but when it comes to my opinion, too, on am I going to approve that, no I won’t.”
In spite of the debate, the council still voted on all the tax abatements at once, with Haschel opposing. Plymouth Tube was not eligible because it hasn’t met its requirements this year.
