Starke County Council Reviews CF-1 Forms

The Starke County Council members reviewed several CF-1 forms for several companies that were previously granted real property and personal property tax abatements from the county.

A CF-1 form is filed with the county once a year to show whether or not the company has fulfilled obligations as specified in their original tax abatement paperwork.  Typically, the form shows compliance with number of employees and salaries stated as a condition of the tax abatement agreement.

The council members unanimously denied the CF-1 form from Gary Poppins.  The form was denied because they found Gary Poppins failed to substantially comply with the employment measure without an explanation.  The company promised to hire 35 employees with a certain wage, and the company only has 13 employees. 

The council members also denied the CF-1 form for Mae Engineering as the company submitted an incomplete application. 

Those companies can appeal the decision at the next meeting.  The council members said they would like to speak to Gary Poppins representatives to talk about operations there.

They did approve the CF-1 forms for American Oak who exceeded expectations in their paperwork and Kemin Industries who met expectations in their documents.