From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
A divided City Council couldn’t decide whether a proposed medical facility deserved a tax break.
The council could only garner four votes to support the project, along with two opponents and two abstentions. The tie vote effectively means its defeat, but the project theoretically could be revised with future support.
Councilmen Tom Didier, R-3rd, Geoff Paddock, D-5th, Glynn Hines, D-6th, and Marty Bender, R-at large, supported the abatement for a $2 million development near Dupont Hospital for Ophthalmology Consultants. Councilmen Tom Smith, R-1st, and Russ Jehl, R-2nd, opposed the abatement, while councilmen Mitch Harper, R-4th, and John Crawford, R-at large, abstained from voting.
Councilman John Shoaff, D-at large, was absent, and a bill that fails to receive five votes in support does not pass. Council President Smith declared the bill dead after it failed to receive majority approval.
The vote comes after months of wrangling among council members about the proper policy for tax abatements for professional service providers, such as medical offices. The council last month supported an abatement for a dentist office on the northern tip of the city with Crawford’s support. That project included approval by the council to annex the property where the office will be constructed.
Crawford said the council has begun looking at such abatements in a rigorous fashion. He said he abstained from voting because this project likely started the abatement process before the council signaled a shift in policy, but he said he could not bring himself to support it.
Paddock said the project creates jobs for the area – it was listed to create five new professionals – and it was unfair to punish developers who follow the rules and policies previously set by the council. He said it is appropriate for the council to examine its abatement policies, which is being done by a joint city-county committee, but companies that started the process under the old rules shouldn’t be held to a higher standard.
Smith said he is opposed to granting abatements for professional services, although he said he could reconsider if a new specific policy on those types of developments is created.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120725/LOCAL/307259937/0/SEARCH
