Allen County business personal property tax elimination proposal pulled

Tuesday marked the second public hearing on Fort Wayne City Councilman Jason Arp's proposal to eliminate the county's business personal property tax. Companies, Arp contends, frequently receive tax abatements already, so eliminating the tax altogether would make the county more attractive to businesses. Some business owners spoke in favor of the proposal at a public hearing last month.

Arp withdrew his proposal pending a review by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance to make sure it fits form and legality. Arp said city officials indicated they believed the proposal needed to be first submitted to the DLGF.

“There is a pre-approval process that says it's allowable for the DLGF to pre-approve,” Council Attorney Joe Bonahoom said. “It's not required by statute. We've spoken to the DLGF on two or three different occasions about that because we felt it was unclear.”