Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Are there any affordable housing units being built in Decorah because of the city's tax abatement program?"

(Jim e-mails: Please explain how Decorah's new tax abatement (for home construction) works.  I see $280,000 condos under construction touting the tax abatement.  Are there any affordable housing units being built because of this program?")

Mr. Answer Person says: "decorahnews.com posted numerous stories about the tax abatement program last fall, but let's remind people about the details of the program:

Under the plan, property owners would qualify for a tax abatement for five years under the following categories:

--Exemption of property taxes for single family residential construction of 100 percent up to the first $400,000 of actual value added for five years.

--Exemption of property taxes for multi-family commercial residential construction of 100 percent for up to $40,000 per dwelling unit of actual value added for five years.

--Exemption of property taxes for existing residential if the improvements made improve the actual value added to the property more than 10 percent.

The program was designed to spur residential housing construction in the City of Decorah--and it's certainly done that during 2015.  Here are the construction permits which have been issued so far this year--with others possibly in the future.

Single family home          $300,000
Single family home          $280,000
Single family home          $380,000
Single family home          $280,000
Single family home          $450,000
Single family home          $220,000
Condo                             $480,000
Single family home          $200,000
House addition                 $60,000
House addition                 $43,000
House addition                 $179,000
House addition                 $70,000

Math isn't Mr. Answer Person's strong suit, but my calculator says that's almost $3 million in residential construction.

Your question, however, was "Are there any affordable housing units being built because of this?" and that's a question that prompted heated debate last fall before the program was approved by city council members on a 4-3 vote.  One of the arguments supporters of the plan used was that even if an expensive condo was built because of these incentives, it would open up less expensive housing when the new condo owners sold their existing homes.

But if "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," so is "affordable housing."  It's a question that reasonable people can legitimately differ on.

But to refresh your memory about the arguments pro and con, here's a previous decorahnews.com story about the topic.