Council Communication Office of the City Manager	Date	May 5, 2008
	Agenda Item No. 12 Roll Call No. 08- Communication No. 08-256 Submitted by: Larry Hulse, Community Development Director

AGENDA HEADING:

Approving one tax abatement application for improvements completed in 2006 for property located at 2832 Sweetwater Drive and denial of retroactive application.

SYNOPSIS:

Recommend approval of tax abatement and denial of a retroactive application for improvements to the property located at 2832 Sweetwater Drive. The applicant claims that the abatement application was submitted to the City when the building permit for property was applied for in May 2006. However, staff has no evidence that this particular application was received by the City at the time of application for a building permit or by the deadline on February 1, 2007. The applicant does not have a date-stamped copy of the application or a confirmation number to indicate that the application was received by the City.

The application should be treated as timely-filed for 2007, so the applicant will still receive the full term of abatement, commencing with the taxes paid in fiscal year 2009/10.

The abatement application should be started as soon as possible after approval.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Amount: $186,876 in forthcoming taxable value.

Funding Source: Some taxes will be generated in the first year after improvements are made, but only from the land value. The improvement value will be forthcoming when the $186,876 comes on the tax rolls after abatement ends.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The applicant chose Schedule 4B. Schedule 4B is for qualified real estate for the remainder of the City for a period of five years.  Qualified real estate assessed as residential or commercial and consisting of three or more living quarters with at least 75% of the space used residentially is eligible to receive an exemption from taxation on the actual value added by improvements.  The exemption amount is 100% of the actual value added by the improvements. 

PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION(S):

Date: February 25, 2008

Roll Call: 08-298

Action: Approving tax abatement applications (346) for additional value added by improvements made during 2007.  (Council Communication No.  08-094)  Moved by Hensley to adopt.  Motion Carried 7-0.

Date: January 28, 2008

Roll Call: 08-120

Action: Approving tax abatement applications (208) for additional value added by improvements made during 2007.  (Council Communication No.  08-029) Moved by Kiernan to adopt.  Motion Carried 7-0.

Date: December 17, 2007

Roll Call: 07-2369

Action: Approving tax abatement applications (44) for additional value added by improvements made during 2007. (Council Communication No. 07-732) Moved by Hensley to adopt. Motion Carried 6-1.

BOARD/COMMISSION ACTION(S): NONE

ANTICIPATED ACTIONS AND FUTURE COMMITMENTS:

The tax abatement program on new improvements currently ends on December 31, 2008, unless the City Council extends the program beyond that date.  Any application received by February 1, 2009, and approved by the City Council, will receive abatement for the number of years eligible and for which an application was submitted.  It is anticipated that there will be numerous submittals of tax abatement applications on a yearly basis until the program ends.

For more information on this and other agenda items, please call the City Clerk’s Office at 515-283-4209 or visit the Clerk’s Office on the second floor of City Hall, 400 Robert D. Ray Drive. Council agendas are available to the public at the City Clerk’s Office on Thursday afternoon preceding Monday’s Council meeting. Citizens can also request to receive meeting notices and agendas by email by calling the Clerk’s Office or sending their request via email to cityclerk@dmgov.org.