Tax Abatement: Some figures to assess potential results

How will the City of Decorah know whether its three-year tax abatement program will produce results?  That's a question that has gotten a lot of discussion among city council members.

Now they will have some figures to compare future housing starts to.  City Manager Chad Bird has reviewed housing figures for 2011 through 2014 and says seven building permits were issued in each of 2011, 2012 and 2014.  In 2013 that figure jumped to 14 housing permits.

The tax abatement program will give a tax break on the first $400,000 of assessed valuations of new houses.  Four of the 35 housing projects from the last four years involved houses that were assessed at over $400,000.