A proposal to update St. Joseph County’s tax abatement policy has sparked debate among council members over how quickly the measure is moving, when it’s scheduled for a vote, and how simple it should be to navigate.
The ordinance would streamline the county’s abatement rules and could extend some abatements for as long as 20 years.
Republican Councilwoman Amy Drake says the plan is being rushed and favors big business.
“We’d only seen the changes 24 hours ahead of time," Drake said, "and more changes came just a couple hours before the meeting. We really weren’t able to do our due diligence on the bill.”
Democrat Bryan Tanner, a co-sponsor, disputes that characterization.
“The ordinance is largely unchanged from what people have had the opportunity to review for nearly three months," Tanner said. "The changes that have happened since then are clean up of typographical errors.”
The vote is set for November 12, the same night the council will also consider a separate data center proposal. Drake worries the overlap could limit public participation.
“Even if some people are there," Drake said, "it doesn’t mean everybody’s there, and certain people who are only there for an abatement bill are certainly not gonna want to wait till midnight to make their voices known.”
Tanner says the agenda order hasn’t been finalized, and argues the same residents are likely interested in both topics.
“The folks who are coming out for the data center rezoning," Tanner said, "those are the exact same people who have a vested interest in how our tax abatements are handled.”
The two also disagree on how complex the abatement process should be.
Tanner said “That initial filing reduced the current ordinance from 24 pages down to 9 pages.”
“I think that the way we become a more competitive county for investment is we don’t have complicated procedures in place," Drake said. "And I think that’s the problem with their bill. I just think it’s too complicated.”
Both say they want as many residents as possible to weigh in before the council takes up the proposal next month.
