COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus city council members found themselves at odds over whether to waive approximately $70,000 in taxes for a low-income housing project that failed to file for a deduction in time.
Columbus City Council has voted 4-3 not to grant the Lofts at Ashford a waiver of noncompliance for its “failure to timely file for deductions on a previously approved property tax abatement.”
Council members Dave Bush, R–District 3, Frank Miller, R–District 4, Tom Dell, D–at large and Grace Kestler, D–at large voted against granting the waiver. Tim Shuffett, R–District 5, Elaine Hilber, D–District 2 and Jerone Wood, D–District 1 voted in favor of granting it.
In 2017, the council unanimously approved a real property tax abatement for Herman & Kittle Properties, Inc. so that the developer could build the Lofts, which provide affordable housing in Columbus.
“That has been accomplished,” said city community development assistant director Robin Hilber. “It is now fully occupied.”
Kathryn Merritt-Thrasher, who spoke as a representative of the Lofts, described the apartments as “a new construction, quality affordable low-income housing.” These apartments provide housing to individuals and families with income that is at or below 60% of the area median income.
According to the resolution regarding the business’s requested waiver, the Lofts “failed to timely file an Application for Deduction from Assessed Valuation (Form 322/RE) within 30 days of receiving its Notice of Assessment (Form 11) from Bartholomew County.”
Merritt-Thrasher said that this was an administrative oversight. She explained that while the abatement was approved in 2017, the property did not become fully assessed until January of 2021. The Form 11 notice of assessment was then mailed in late April of 2021, and the Lofts’ compliance statements were due in May. However, these were not filed.
“Kittle, which is the property management group that has built the lofts, manages over 150 various low-income projects throughout the middle part of Indiana and throughout most of the states, actually,” said Merritt-Thrasher. “And they missed a piece of paper.”
For the complete story, see Friday’s Republic.
