Should the city government issue industrial revenue bonds for things like non-low-income rental housing? That’s the question the Manhattan City Commission will take up at Tuesday’s meeting. The issue follows a January retreat at which commissioners said they wanted to help create more workforce housing. They asked city officials to draft a housing policy to take advantage of available programs and tools. The city government previously has used IRBs for industrial and commercial development. An approved IRB can result in a property tax abatement of the new property taxes created by the rental housing project for a period of up to 10 years, and/or a sales tax exemption for project labor and materials during the project’s construction period, according to city memos. The city has two existing policies that apply. First, IRBs may only apply to low-income housing projects. Second, the Tax Abatement Policy has specific requirements for the property tax abatement that would not continue to apply to these projects.
Source: themercury.com
