GREENFIELD — At their latest meeting, members of Hancock County government continued discussion about what role they should have in shaping development in the county’s western corridor and how tax abatements should be evaluated for the many companies seeking to build in the busy area.

Council member Mary Noe provided the budget committee with an update on county tax abatements at its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 1. Noe collected data on all the abatements currently running in the county, with help from the county auditor’s office.

“I think it gives us a benchmark to see where we are, what we’ve approved and what we’d like to see in the county going forward,” Noe said.

According to the data Noe shared, the county has 27 real property building abatements currently running, 18 of which are on buildings built as speculative. Seven were built to be occupied by the owner, and two use a “sale-leaseback” arrangement in which the eventual occupant of the building builds it, sells it to someone else, and then leases it back for its own use.

Nineteen of those buildings are fully occupied, four have no tenant in place, and four are partially occupied.

The total value of those buildings, according to paperwork submitted by the companies and approved by the county, is $403 million.

Eight companies have personal property abatements in the county, representing an estimated 517 jobs when those abatements were approved. Those companies currently employ 692 people, according to their most recently submitted compliance forms.

As of Jan. 1, 11 companies had abatements that were approved on buildings that had not yet been completed. That represented over 7.6 million square feet, in addition to two companies that did not provide square-foot estimates for their projects.

The 11 companies all secured abatements for speculative buildings, 21 buildings in total. The estimated cost of all those projects was over $496 million.

Since the beginning of 2021, the council has approved abatements on eight buildings and one personal property abatement. That includes one addition to an existing building, one owner-occupied building, and six speculative buildings. Those abatements represent a total investment of over $161 million.

The county council is working with financial adviser Greg Guerrettaz to create a new form for companies seeking abatements that will provide more information than the council currently receives about projects.

Guerrettaz said one addition to the form that could be valuable is an option for developers working on a speculative building to specify that they do have an occupant in mind, although they might not be formally working together early on in the process.

“Most speculative buildings are spec with a wink,” he said.

Other county officials also shared ideas on what they’d like to see included on an application for abatement. County council member Keely Butrum said the council should be quicker to refuse to consider applications if they are incomplete or not completed on time. Others said the county should collect information on how many employees of a company receiving an abatement live in Hancock County, and more detailed information about how those employees are paid.

Noe said it’s inevitable that many businesses will continue to develop in Hancock County, and it’s the county council’s role as the entity that can grant tax abatements to decide what kind of development the community wants to incentivize.

“We are the next frontier,” she said.
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