Decorah City Council is still deeply divided over tax abatement proposal

Decorah City Council members will meet as the city's Betterment and Economic Development Committee on September 29th at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall to try to iron out a proposed tax abatement plan aimed at encouraging residential development.

City council members discussed the proposal again Monday night, but still have widely differing views.

City council members Tade Kerndt and Jody NIess urged their fellow council members to adopt the proposal as presented on September 2nd.  City council member Charles Lore said he would vote against the proposal because he believed "It benefits a few and not the many."

City council members couldn't reach agreement on any of the three parts of the proposal--those covering new residential construction, new multi-family construction or residential remodeling.  Concluded city council member Paul Wanless, "I don't know that we've got four votes (for passage) of anything."

All seven council members will attend September 29th's meeting in hopes of bringing a compromise agreement to the next city council meeting on October 6th.