The Council, in accordance with IC 6-1.1-12.1 et seq. shall make available the opportunity to receive real estate and personal property tax abatement to qualifying companies located within the Town of Huntertown.
(A) The economic development division staff of the Allen County Department of Planning Services shall provide a formal application and statement of benefits (SB-l) form(s) to interested parties.
(1) The owner(s) of property located within the jurisdiction of the Council shall initiate the process by filing a completed and signed application and statement of benefits (SB-l) form(s) with economic development staff.
(2) The application shall be accompanied by the established filing fee.
(a) Five hundred dollars for real or personal property deduction;
(b) Seven hundred and fifty dollars for both real and personal property deduction; and
(c) Five hundred dollars for vacant building deduction only.
(3) Upon receipt of an application, the economic development staff shall:
(a) Note the date of filing on the application; and
(b) Review it for completeness.
(c) Acceptable applications shall be submitted to the Council for formal consideration at their next available meeting.
(d) Provide the Council with appropriate maps necessary to identify the area for which the applicant requests economic revitalization area designation along with a simplified description of its boundaries.
(e) Provide the applicant written notice when the Council will formally consider the application. The applicant or its representative shall be present at the Council meeting at which the application and statement of benefits form(s) is/are considered.
(4) After review of the information provided in the application, by the staff, the applicant and other interested persons, the Council may:
(a) Find that the real estate under consideration meets the definition and standards of an economic revitalization area, as set forth in IC 6-1.1-12.1-1(1) and § 152.21. In such instances, the Council may adopt a declaratory resolution stating same and cause the action set forth in division (A)(5) herein to occur. Said declaratory resolution shall include the reasons upon which the determination is made.
(b) Find that there is insufficient information and defer action on the matter. The applicant shall be provided written notice of the reasons for deferral within ten days of that action.
(c) Determine that the real estate should not be designated as an economic revitalization area and provide the applicant written notice thereof.
(5) Upon adoption of a declaratory resolution the Council shall:
(a) Set the date, time, and location for a public hearing at which the Council will receive and hear all comments from interested persons;
(b) Cause notice of the adoption and substance of the declaratory resolution to be published in accordance with IC 6-1.1-12.1-2.5(c) and IC 5-3-1. The notice shall state that a description of the affected area is available and can be inspected in the offices of the Allen County Department of Planning Services, the Allen County Assessor, and the Huntertown Town Hall. The notice shall also state the time, date, and location of the subsequent public hearing on the matter;
(c) Cause a generalized description of the subject real estate to be attached to the declaratory resolution and file same with the Allen County Assessor and the Town Clerk-Treasurer.
(6) Upon considering the evidence presented at the public hearing, the Council shall take final action on the request for designation by either confirming, modifying and confirming, or rescinding the subject declaratory resolution. The applicant(s) or its representative shall be present at the public hearing to provide such information as may be needed.
(7) The determination of the confirmatory resolution made pursuant to division (A)(6) herein shall be final except that an appeal may be taken as provided in IC 6-1.1-12.1-2.5(d) and IC 6-1.1-12.l-2.5(e).
(8) Upon confirming, or modifying and confirming, a declaratory resolution by the procedures set forth herein, the Allen County Auditor and the Economic Development Division shall keep a permanent record of the designation of the subject economic revitalization area. The Economic Development Division staff shall also provide the Auditor with a final designation packet to be utilized in the review of applications for deduction pursuant to IC 6-1.1-12.1-5 and IC 6-1.1-12.1-5.4.
(B) Applications will be evaluated and the information provided within will be applied toward the point system to determine the recommended length of the abatement. Abatements can be granted for a period of three, five, seven or ten years for both real and personal property.
(C) For applications that include personal property, the applicant shall provide the expected life of each asset (piece of equipment) for depreciation purposes. The abatement period for personal property may be limited to a term that is less than the depreciable life of the asset.
(D) For applications that include manufacturing equipment, the applicant shall indicate whether special tools (as defined by Indiana Administrative Code Title 50 Department of Local Government Finance, Article 4.2 Assessment of Tangible Personal Property) are included in the new manufacturing equipment. Special tooling may be limited to a one-year abatement term.
(E) For applicants indicating that there is a retail component to their business, they must also indicate, by percentage of overall business, to what extent.
(l) Anything less than 10% shall be considered a de minimus amount while any amount above 50% will make the project ineligible for abatement.
(2) For retail percentages between 10% and 50%, only the non-retail percentage of the total investment shall be included in the abatement deduction amount.
(F) For applicants that are service-based businesses the following criteria must be met to be eligible for abatement:
(1) More than 25% of the customer base for the service-based business is located outside of Allen County, Indiana or more than 25% of the annual gross revenue of the service-based business is generated by customers located outside of Allen County; or
(2) (a) The amount of the investment for which the abatement is being sought by the applicant is $5,000,000 or more.
(b) Under division (F) a service-based business is a commercial enterprise that derives more than 50% of its annual gross revenue directly from labor performed in an expert manner by an individual or team for the benefit of its customers/clients as opposed to the sale of tangible goods and/or products. The definition includes, without limitation, businesses such as law firms, accounting firms, consulting firms, financial services firms, insurance agencies, marketing/advertising agencies, and medical and dental practices. The definition does not include retail establishments, the eligibility of which is determined under IC 6-1.1-12.1-3(e).
(G) Applicants for projects involving the redevelopment or rehabilitation of a speculative building may receive a ten-year phased deduction without adhering to the county's point system. For purposes of this section, a speculative building is a building development, construction, or rehabilitation of at least 50,000 square feet that is reasonably likely to create new jobs when the developer has no formal commitment from a buyer or tenant to purchase or lease the end product, whether the end product is a fully completed, move-in ready building or a partially completed shell suitable for build-out improvements by the future owner or tenant. Additional incentives for the final build-out and personal property (equipment) may be considered upon the identification of the end user. Any additional incentives will adhere to the county's point system for real and personal property abatement at the time of submittal.
(H) (1) The owner of an eligible vacant building, as defined in IC 6-1.1-12.1-1(19), is entitled to a deduction from the assessed value of the building if the property owner or tenant of the property owner occupies the eligible vacant building and uses it for commercial or industrial purposes.
(2) Property owner is entitled to the deduction for no more than two years with the deduction schedule as follows:
(a) Year 1 = 100% deduction; and
(b) Year 2 = 50% deduction.
(I) The criteria for a 20-year personal property deduction are as follows:
(1) The company will create at least 1,000 new jobs within two years of submitting its application;
(2) The company will invest at least $500,000,000 in eligible personal property;
(3) The amount of income taxes generated by the new jobs will be equal to or exceed the value of the deduction after year ten years. Per IC 6-1.1-12.1-18(e), Council will hold a public hearing for any abatement schedule that exceeds ten years to review the taxpayer's compliance with statement of benefits form (CF-l) after the tenth year.
(4) The deduction schedule for a 20-year deduction is as The deduction schedule for a 20-year deduction is as follows:
Twenty Year Deduction Schedule
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Twenty Year Deduction Schedule
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Year 1 | 100% |
Year 2 | 95% |
Year 3 | 90% |
Year 4 | 85% |
Year 5 | 80% |
Year 6 | 75% |
Year 7 | 70% |
Year 8 | 65% |
Year 9 | 60% |
Year 10 | 55% |
Year 11 | 50% |
Year 12 | 45% |
Year 13 | 40% |
Year 14 | 35% |
Year 15 | 30% |
Year 16 | 25% |
Year 17 | 20% |
Year 18 | 15% |
Year 19 | 10% |
Year 20 | 5%
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(Res. 19-013, passed 6-3-19; Am. Res. 2020-018, passed 7-6-20; Am. Res. 2020-025, passed 9-21-20)