Tom Dell
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.”
She added that the Kittle Property Group continues its commitment to provide quality low-income housing to 36 individuals and families in the Columbus area.
“It is allowing individuals to live in quality housing far beyond what they otherwise could afford at market levels,” said Merritt-Thrasher. “And because of that, they don’t budget, they didn’t budget, they never had in their budget $70,000 plus in taxes.”
Hilber said that if the waiver had been approved, it would allow the company to receive all 10 years of its tax abatement; without approval, it lost the first year due to its failure to file.
Shuffett felt that the request warranted consideration, as the city wants to attract businesses that will create other affordable housing projects and would also hope to see Kittle consider another development. Councilwoman Elaine Hilber expressed a similar sentiment.
“For me, at the end of the day, the investment was made,” she said. “Six million (dollars) was invested into the community for something that is a need, for something that we all agreed is something that we need, something that we would like more of, that we would like Kittle, perhaps, to come back and build more high-quality affordable and low-income housing.”
She also felt that the approximately $70,000 in taxes, if waived, would have little impact on the budgets of different taxing units that would each receive pieces of that revenue.
Dell, however, took issue with the company requesting a waiver after failing to do its due diligence. He also felt that granting the waiver would set a precedent.
“If we are in the business of granting of waivers for mistakes that are made not on our fault but on the petitioner’s fault, when does that stop?” he said. “If we allow one, we should allow all. I never want to show favoritism to one group over another.”
Miller, on the other hand, said each request is “unique in its circumstances.” Nevertheless, he also felt this particular application should be denied and noted that a waiver would affect not only the city, but other taxing units as well.
He also said that the added cost from the first year’s taxes will not affect tenants at the Lofts.
“We desperately need more low income housing,” he said, “But this $70,000 — I asked that question right away of Robin, when this came to light, ‘Can that be passed on?’ Technically, no. Kittle cannot technically pass the $70,000 on to make it up, because the low-income housing is set as to how it’s put into place.”
