Allen County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday not to participate in tax abatements through the Neighborhood Revitalization Program for two commercial projects on the east of Iola.
Affected are units of American Self Storage, owned by Dana Watson and Benny Beurskens, and the Iola Pharmacy satellite that is attached to The Family Physicians clinic.
The commissioners’ decision came after Carl Slaugh, Iola administrator, told them neither had filed paperwork within allotted time to trigger abatements when they were proposed in 2007. City councilmen earlier approved exceptions to give the abatements.
Property tax abatements in the program are 100 percent, less 5 percent retained by the county for administration, for five years and then decline by 20 percent a year to zero.
Commissioners said they thought an exception wasn’t appropriate since application didn’t occur in a timely manner.
Slaugh said Allen County Community College also had agreed to an exception, and that USD 257 hadn’t acted on the request. Each taxing unit decides abatements independently.
JASON NELSON, ambulance director, told commissioners that ACCC had agreed to provide emergency medical technician classes in conjunction with the county’s Emergency Medical Services, as it did several years ago.
Classes will be open to anyone and will start in the 2012 fall semester.
“We’re also working to start paramedic instruction at the college,” Nelson said.
Angie Murphy, 911 dispatch director, said she had been appointed as a representative to the Kansas chapter of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials on the 12-county Southeast Kansas Regional Homeland Security Council.
“There are many projects that develop from these meetings that often end up on the doorstep of a communication center and I think having an active role in this group will benefit us all,” Murphy told commissioners. “In many cases Homeland Security is the glue that holds our public safety communities together.”
SHELIA LAMPE, Iola Area Chamber of Commerce director, was given permission for the Chamber to use the courthouse lawn for holiday activities.
The downtown Iola Christmas lights ceremony will be at 6 p.m. Nov. 25 at the bandstand.
The Santa house will be on the southeast corner of the square. Santa will be in the house Thursday evenings, Dec. 1, 8, 15 and 22, from 5 to 7 o’clock. Santa also will be at the house on Saturday, Nov. 25, arriving on an Iola fire truck at 12:45 p.m., immediately after the noon Candy Cane Treasure Hunt.
