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Regular Council Meeting August 12, 2013 Page 4 City Attorney Kent McIlyar said in follow -up to the Council meeting of July 15th, staff took directions and developed a new map identified as reinvestment zone 2013 -1. Council Member Drake said Jim Bell's comments brought up questions and how much would the residential tax abatement help the citizens. She also said there were three areas in her district that she would like to eventually add to the zone. Council Member Grossnickle questioned how much tax relief the residents would actually receive. Council Member Lancaster said she would like for them to give some relief to the citizens and Council Member Jenkins agreed. Council Member Wright said he thought they should move forward with the abatement, because every little bit helped the citizens. Mayor Hashmi said he thought they should carry out what they initially discussed and make adjustments later, as needed. Mayor Hashmi opened the public hearing and asked for anyone wishing to speak in support or opposition of this item, to please come forward. Daigone Garner a member of the PJC Board of Regents, spoke in opposition of this item. She wanted to know who would profit from the abatement and who was going to oversee it. Ms. Garner said she understood there were a lot of realtors buying property and letting them deteriorate and questioned if that was helping the poor people and they couldn't help people who did not want help. Johnny Lee, 2306 Simpson, said he was not for or against the residential tax abatement. He said he supported Mr. Bell's view, but was not clear of the impact it would have on him. He also said for those who live on a fixed income, taxes were regressive. Jim Bell, 720 -39th, he reiterated that he did not say the abatement would not help and the real problem was when residents got the increase from the other taxing authorities. Carol Hufnagel, 720 Bunker, she inquired about listing the delinquent tax notices in the local paper and asked if that could be done. Mr. Anderson said that could be published in the newspaper and in the past, the City did so. He said the current practice was to assign collection to the delinquent tax attorney. Larry Schenk, 3765 Dawn Drive, he inquired why rehabilitation relief was not applied for District 7. He said there were a lot of retirees in his area and essentially on fixed income. With no one else speaking, Mayor Hashmi closed the public hearing. Council Member Wright said he would like to give the abatement, but would like to consider other issues and it might be best to have additional time on this item. Council Member Jenkins agreed. Council Member Lancaster said the abatement was the first step and that she would like to explore other ways to help with rehabilitation and development. Council Member Grossnickle said he did not have a problem with postponing this item. Council Member Frierson agreed with Council Member Grossnickle and asked that Council be provided with a formal report from the housing committee. Council Member Drake favored tabling this item until the questions brought forward could be answered. Mayor Hashmi said he liked Mr. Schenk's ideal and was in agreement to postpone this item to allow for additional review. A Motion to table this item was made by Mayor Hashmi and seconded by Council Member Drake. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays. A Motion to bring item 19 forward on the Agenda was made by Council Member Wright and seconded by Council Member Lancaster. Motion carried, 7 ayes — 0 nays.