City Council discusses abatement applications
June 03, 2021BERLIN On May 17, the Berlin City Council held a work session where the first topic of discussion was in regard to property value abatements.
City Manager James Wheeler discussed the property abatement recommendations received from Monica Hurley, Assessing Agent from Corcoran Consulting Associates, who was present via Zoom to answer any questions.
Hurley said, Taxpayers must reference one out of the following three criteria s in order to merit an abatement application. The three criteria are data, comparable market sales and level of assessment. If the citizen s concerns are interior, they will schedule an interior inspection.
Police conduct homeless sweep at Chapman Square
The Portland Police Bueau said the camp was swept because of criminal activity.
Portland police cleared out a homeless camp reportedly due to criminal activity on the morning of Tuesday, June 1.
Lieutenant Greg Pashley with the Portland Police Bureau said officers conducted an abatement at Chapman Square, which is carried out in the event of criminal and unlawful activity. An abatement was first conducted in the area on April 4, but Lt. Pashley said there have been several events involving crime and arrests connected to those living in the area since then.
Police said four incidents have taken place in the last week, alone. Yet, they did not clarify what type of criminal activity had occurred.
What kind of setbacks should be required?
A bill that passed in the Indiana House â but died in the Senate this past legislative session â would have set those guidelines for the entire state.
One provision in that bill would have allowed some local control. Any county with an ordinance in place before June 30 would have been exempt.
Even with that bill having failed, the Noble County Plan Commission is working to come up with its own guidelines as part of the countyâs Unified Development Ordinance.
âOur zoning ordinance doesnât have anything to do with solar energy,â Noble County Councilman George Bennett said during Mondayâs regularly scheduled council meeting. âThis is an important consideration in an area that has been neglected so far.â
Paris Economic Development Corp. directors gave staff authority to seek proposals for a line of credit at a Tuesday meeting, perhaps a prerequisite for borrowing money from the city in an attempt to save the economic engine money while providing added revenue to city coffers.
The idea to lower the interest rate PEDC currently pays locally on borrowed funds and to increase the amount of interest the city receives on investments has been discussed in the past by both Paris City Council and the PEDC board.
At an April 12 meeting, city councilors directed staff to obtain a secured loan of some type backed by land or perhaps a line of credit in the amount of money the organization plans to borrow from the city.