Renovation of facilities is part of improvements plan for Rushmore Playground. |
No longer part of a Plainfield City Council majority, Councilors Diane Toliver and Bridget Rivers are casting about for a role to play and seem to settled on sniping at resolutions and ordinances they have no chance of derailing.
Monday evening offered several examples, from the Rushmore Playground renovations to the revival of the city's longstanding 5-year tax abatement for property improvements to hiring a marketing consultant to continue the rebranding effort as part of the city's economic development plan.
Councilor Toliver exhibits a certain charming tendency when, meeting after meeting, she shows the world that she is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Last night, it was the question: "what streets are included in the bonding for 2017?"
The answer: They are listed in Section 3 of the proposed ordinance (which has been in the hands of all the Council members -- including Toliver -- since before January's combined agenda/business meeting.
You may be forgiven if you're asking yourself whether or not she reads her packet thoroughly.
As for the 5-year tax abatement, Deputy City Administrator for Economic Development Carlos Sanchez did an excellent job of explaining how it works.
The ordinance itself has been on the books since 1978, when it was passed by the City Council of that era. However, it fell into disuse and needed to be updated before it could be put to use as a development tool today.
The first thing, Sanchez explained, was to designate an area in which the abatement for improvements would apply (the UEZ zone is being proposed).
The way the abatement works was illustrated with a simple example in which a property owner was paying taxes of approximately $8,600 pre-improvements.
Typically, the tax assessor reviews any improvements once made and updates the valuation of the property to take into account the improvements.
Under the 5-year rebate program, the updated valuation would not kick in until after 5 years. In the example used, the property owner would continue to pay $8,600 per year for 5 years (the city not losing anything over what was previously collected, with the incresed valuation kicking in at that point and going forward.
Sanchez cautioned folks to remember that while the tax valuation is determined by the city's tax assessor, the tax rate is set by the County.
Mayor Mapp added the explanation that it was hoped this plan would encourage the owners of multi-story downtown properties whose upper floors have been vacant and unused for decades to bring them back to productive use as apartments or office space.
Doesn't that sound like a win-win?
-- Dan Damon [follow]
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