Kendall County Commissioners Andra Wisian and Chad Carpenter sounded loud and strong Monday against the county's current tax abatement program.
“I want to abolish this, right now,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Wisian said during the regular session of the Kendall County Commissioner’s Court.
While Wisian rattled off reason after reason for her disdain of the practice, Precinct 4 Commissioner Carpenter kept his comment short, but just as direct.
“We can’t even suspend it today, without a public hearing?” Carpenter asked County Judge Shane Stolarczyk. “Let’s hold that public hearing, right way.”
Tax abatements have become a hot topic in the county. Two energy firms — Bandera Electric Cooperative and Key Capture Energy — are seeking tax abatements that grant the firms up to 45 and 55% tax breaks to build a facility and begin operations in the county.
More than 250 Kendall residents turned out Jan. 29 to voice their opposition to Key Capture's efforts to build a lithium-ion battery storage facility on 3 acres of land adjacent to the Lower Colorado River Authority power facility in Comfort.
All five members of the commission were on hand for that meeting and heard the public’s outrage not only for issuing a tax abatement, but for allowing such a firm to even build in the county.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Christina Bergmann said she proposed the agenda item for the Feb. 12 meeting, but for discussion purposes only. “I was asking for this to be on the agenda today so we as a court could have discussion to see if it’s even something we would consider,” Bergmann said.
Stolarczyk said he’d rather suspend the practice of granting tax abatements until the county can evaluate its own policies.
“I think it’s in the county’s best interest to suspend the abatement policy until we can have further discussions with the public and re-evaluate whether the current policy meets the wants and desires of this court,” Stolarczyk said.
“I have a feeling there are going to be some tax abatement (requests) coming down the pipeline and I wanted to get ahead of it,” the judge said.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Richard Chapman echoed Carpenter’s call for a public hearing as soon as possible but spoke against creating a public advisory committee for future tax abatement requests.
“Putting a group of people that can’t be held to the same standards as the court is not a good idea,” Chapman said. “It’s the court’s responsibility and I don’t think we should be shirking our responsibility. We need to see that it’s this group right up here that takes care of the program.” of the program.”
Wisian questioned county policy and the reasons for the abatement to even exist.
“Many businesses do not qualify for this abatement, as it starts at $2.5 million for the investment,” Wisian said. “We do not have a thorough application process, as evident by the scant information submitted by Key Capture Energy in its application.”
She said the court has no proof as to whether the one tax abatement previously granted, to O.W. Lee Company, has been successful.
“This court has never demonstrated how this so-called increased revenue has been used to lower property taxes paid by residential taxpayers, which is one impetus for the abatements,” she said. “I want to abolish this sooner than later.”
No action was taken after discussion. A public hearing will be held prior to any action, which Stolarczyk said could include suspension — or an outright ban — on future abatement requests.
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