Dear Hamilton County Commissioners,
I hope you doing well. My purpose in writing this letter is to ask a couple of questions regarding PILOT property tax exemptions.
I have a few comments and questions.
First, I would like to know why the Hamilton County Commission adopted a resolution granting the Chamber of Commerce with the authority to act as a representative of county government to authorize property tax exemptions in the preliminary phase.
The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce deems themselves as authorized to grant “preliminary approval” for property tax exemptions, as excerpted from their website:
“Once a client is able to share information on the type of project, proposed capital investment, new jobs, and payroll, the Chattanooga Chamber can readily provide a preliminary commitment with regard to tax abatement and land cost. The city and county are prepared to offer some form of tax abatement in combination with a competitive land cost for manufacturing companies interested in locating in Chattanooga.”
What is troublesome is that the Chamber of Commerce is issuing PILOTs to their own members.
The Chamber of Commerce seems too comfy dabbling in granting PILOTs to their members.
The Chamber of Commerce is a union of corporations that charge membership fees. Why does the Chamber need public welfare? If county government needs economic development services, we the people would be better served hiring professionals to handle the PILOT applications in-house. For $1.2 million annually that is given to the Chamber from our property taxes, the citizens of Hamilton County could have a top notch economic division.
Further, it is inappropriate to have a third party non-government organization vested with tax exemption authority. The same concerns exist for River City Company doling out tax exemption gifts to insiders.
Secondly, why is the Hamilton County Commission allowing the Chamber of Commerce to place criteria on the PILOT property tax exemptions that is clearly designed to keep medium to small business out?
The Chamber of Commerce website lists the following criteria,
“This incentive allows qualified businesses to substantially reduce their local real and/or personal property taxes for new investments in real and personal property. Typically, projects must have an investment value of at least $5 million in new real and personal property and create 50 or more new jobs with wages equal to or greater than the average wage in Hamilton County as reported by the U. S. Department of Labor.”
Why can’t medium to small sized businesses participate in the PILOT to “substantially reduce their local real and/or personal property taxes.” This appears to be a discriminatory practice against medium to small sized businesses that cannot access the same financial benefits as other business.
The Chamber of Commerce should not be allowed to use criteria to keeps medium to small sized businesses from accessing the same benefit government is offering to big business?
Perhaps this needs to be challenged, because medium to small businesses are collectively the largest employers. They deserve access to the PILOT program.
April Eidson