Posted: 9/22/04
By Barbara Brown
The Stacy City Council approved a tax abatement program for Hans Hagen Homes to help develop the Stacy Ponds Business Park.
At the Sept. 15 meeting, which had been rescheduled due to the primary election, the council agreed to use tax money paid by Hans Hagen Homes over the coming several years to pay off debt incurred by the city through bonds to pay for street and utilities throughout the new Stacy Ponds Business Park.
Ehlerís and Assoc.ís Todd Hagen, no relation to Hans Hagen, presented the abatement plan to the council.
He said the city and county would share the abatement plan.
Normally, all taxing districts can share in the process that dedicates received tax money to pay debt service. In this case, the North Branch school district is another taxing district that could participate in the tax abatement program if it chose.
Todd Hagen explained that the school board would decline participation and would therefore retain all the tax money given it from Hans Hagen Homes.
Tax abatement is not a break from taxes, Todd Hagen said. He said the property still pays whatever taxes it owes. The county then takes its share and distributes the other shares to other taxing districts.
If the city did not allow a tax abatement program for the Hans Hagen property, it would be forced to tax the residents of the city to pay for street and utility improvements in the business park.
Hans Hagen Homes is the business parkís first occupant. A groundbreaking was held Sept. 14 and construction is expected to begin immediately.
Another significant development presented during the Sept. 15 council meeting was preliminary results of a speed study done on Falcon Avenue.
City engineer Chuck Schwartz told the council that a study showed that the average speed on Falcon Avenue was more than 70 mph. The council will continue to monitor the progress of the study.
During a county board meeting on Aug. 25, County Commissioner Ben Montzka had also requested a speed study on CR 30 through the Minnesota Department of Transportation to determine if the speed through town could be reduced from 40 mph as it stands now to 30 mph, like Harris and North Branch.
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