From the LaPorte Herald-Argus:
The city of La Porte is going to reexamine how it handles tax abatements in an attempt to make the community more attractive to businesses.
During a meeting of the La Porte City Council, Mayor Blair Milo said the state has rewritten the rules regarding tax abatements, allowing cities more leeway in how they structure abatements for businesses. She said now is the time for the city to review its own rules, especially since its current laws can be confusing.
She said there are seven different business tax abatement resolutions on the city's books.
According to speakers at the meeting, a tax abatement is a reduction in the level of taxes given to an expanding or relocating businesses for a fixed number of years. In exchange the business promises to invest a certain amount of money and create a certain number of jobs in the community.
Bert Cook, executive director of the Greater La Porte Economic Development Corporation, said right now the city only bestows the abatements to businesses that invest at least $5 million in the community and promise to add at least 20 jobs. He said if the city changes the rules it could allow a business to have the abatement if it invested less than $5 million but planned to create more than 20 jobs.
He noted that tax abatements are important for attracting businesses to a community, because the communities are essentially competing against each other. It also shows a business the community really wants to work with it.
And he noted that businesses aren't event eligible for relocation incentives from the state unless a local community provides an incentive first.
As a rule of thumb, he said he doesn't offer a business the abatement unless La Porte is competing with another community for its relocation.
He said considerations for the abatements include the number of jobs a particular businesses is projecting to create, and the amount of money it will be investing in the community.
http://www.heraldargus.com/articles/2014/01/14/news/local/doc52d4b763f0dae895115272.txt
