May 19: South Bend Tax Abatement Ordinance Sent To Council By Mayor, Co-Sponsored By Six Council Members

            Tax
abatement reform comes to South
Bend. 
An ordinance very similar to the one passed by the St. Joseph
County
Council last year will now be considered by the South Bend Common
Council.

 

Coalition for
Responsible Tax Abatement

            The
ordinance before the Council is supported by the
Coalition for Responsible Tax Abatement, which is composed of the
following
organizations (listed in alphabetical order):

AFL-CIO Central
Labor Council

Community Forum for
Economic
Development

League of Women
Voters

Michiana Social
Forum

NAACP

Northeast
Neighborhood
Council

Real Estate
Investors
Association — North Central Indiana

Sierra Club

St. Joseph Valley
Building Trades Council

St. Joseph Valley Project

Western Avenue Business Association

 

Council
Members Who
Co-Sponsored the Ordinance with Mayor Luecke

            The
Council members who joined Mayor Steve Luecke in
sending the ordinance to the Council are Henry Davis, Jr., Oliver Davis,
Buddy
Kirsits, Tom LaFountain, Ann Puzzello, and Karen White.  We
thank the Mayor and these members of the
Council for their support of responsible tax abatement and encourage the
other
members of the Council (Derek Dieter, Tim Rouse, and Dave Varner) to
join in as
well.

 

Ordinance
Essentially
the Same as the County
Ordinance

            The
ordinance being considered by the South Bend Council
is essentially the same as the County ordinance, but differs in four
respects:

1) companies can get
credit
towards a longer abatement if they invest in the economically distressed
area
of South Bend
(those census tracts with the highest rates of poverty and unemployment
and the
lowest levels of income),

2) a 5-year
abatement is now
available for the rehabilitation of single-family homes in the
economically
distressed area,

3) construction
contractors
are prohibited from misclassifying employees as independent contractors,
and

4) the common
construction
wage is an incentive for a longer term of abatement rather than a
requirement
for an abatement of more than 3 years. 

            The
first two provisions were not included in the County
ordinance because all the Census tracts in the economically distressed
area are
outside of the area in which the County Council grants abatements. 
The last two provisions were added to the South Bend ordinance in
order to strengthen it and to broaden its base of support.

 

Provisions of
the South Bend
Ordinance

            The
ordinance being considered by the South Bend Council
contains the following provisions:

            Companies
applying for a base 3-year abatement on their
industrial and warehouse buildings need to

– Pay
their employees at least a poverty wage
($8.80/hr)

–
Maintain an affirmative action plan

– Avoid
misclassifying employees as
independent contractors

            Companies
can earn up to a total of 10 years abatement by
choosing to provide some combination of the following benefits:

–
Creating jobs

–
Hiring workers from economically distressed
areas

– Investing in economically distressed areas

–
Paying self-sufficiency wages ($12.90/hr)

–
Paying average wages higher than the local
average

–
Paying the common constructions wage

                                    –
Providing specific and meaningful benefits, such as health insurance,
pension
plans, training, and child care

– Using
local construction workers and
contractors

–
Constructing energy-efficient buildings