Just hours before county officials are scheduled to discuss the fate of 10 years of tax breaks for Porter Regional Hospital, the two sides announced a tentative agreement on the taxable value of the new facility at Ind. 49 and U.S. 6.
The proposal places the value of the 225-bed hospital at $130 million, which was the benchmark set by the Porter County Council to find the facility in compliance with the agreement for the tax abatement.
The amount falls between the $244.5 million value placed on the facility by a professional assessor hired by the county and the hospital's proposed values of $39.3 million and a later figure of $85 million.
The proposal calls for the value to decline in value at an agreed-to rate over the 10-year-period of the abatement.
The agreement is contingent upon the approval of the Porter County Council and its determination the hospital is in full compliance with the terms of the tax abatement, according to the announcement. The hospital, in turn, agrees to drop its appeals of the first two years of tax assessments.
The issue is expected to be taken up by the County Council during a hearing on the fate of the tax abatement at 6 p.m. today.
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