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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBill No 22-23 Waiver of Noncompliance for Imagineering Finishing Technologies PP Cie s Off);- Ice Mqy 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND , N Go 0?2 COMMUNITY INVESTMENT �F�KoU His EEN�IN May 18, 2022 9 9 f Councilmember Rachel Tomas Morgan, Chairperson j Community Investment Committee South Bend Common Council 41h Floor, County-City Building South Bend, IN 46601 i I Dear Councilmember Tomas Morgan, f Attached please find a proposed form of resolution approving a waiver of noncompliance,pursuant to Indiana Code 6-1.1-12.1-11.3, for Imagineering Finishing Technologies. The Company filed a Form CF-l/RP and CF-I/PP with the City of South Bend in 2021,however, the Company inadvertently did not file the Form 322 and Form 103 with the Auditor's office. In an annual self-audit, the company discovered that they failed to submit forms required for the continuation of their real property and personal property tax abatements. Imagineering shared that the omission was due to staff turnover within Imagineering and at Kruggel Lawton. The company is requesting that the Common Council waive noncompliance with the filing deadline for tax deduction forms including the Form 322 and Form 103. The Department of Community Investment endorses and supports this waiver as the Company has been on track with their abatement milestones. The initial projection associated with building improvements was $3.5 million and the actual cost through December 31, 2022,was $2,254,753. The project has met the employment representation stated in the original petition for tax abatement from when the project began operating, until the present date. We ask that the attached resolution be referred to the Community Investment Committee for an advisory recommendation and then heard at the Common Council meeting to be held on May 23, 2022. A representative from Imagineering will be present at the meetings. Should you require additional information, please let me know. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 1400S County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Blvd. South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9371 www.southbendin.gov 0 1 CITYOFSOUTHBEND ; COMMUNITY INVESTMENT Sincerely, C/ 0M. e Caleb Bauer Acting Executive Director ��Eq Department of Community Investment k,SDU IFS Attachments ENO/At CC: Michael Seiler, Imagineering Finishing Technologies Sandra Kennedy, Corporation Counsel I Rage 12 L VIIIGO BILL NO. 22-23 2022 RESOLUTION NO. AWNNESUT BENG,NN A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA CONFIRMING THE GRANT OF CERTAIN PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX ABATEMENT DEDUCTIONS AND WAIVING NONCOMPLIANCE FOR PROPERTY COMMONLY KNOWN AS 3722 FOUNDATION CT., SOUTH BEND, INDIANA 46628 FOR Imagineering Enterprises, Inc WHEREAS, on September 10, 2018,the Common Council of the City of South Bend(the "Common Council") adopted Resolution No. 4741-18 (the "2018 Resolution"), approving a five (5) year personal property tax deduction for a new personal property located at 3722 Foundation Ct. South Bend, IN 46628 (the "Building") by Imagineering Enterprises, Inc. or "Taxpayer", within an area located in the City of South Bend that had been designated an economic revitalization area in accordance with IND.CODE § 6-1.1-12.1-1, et seq.; WHEREAS, as part of Imagineering Enterprises Inc. deduction application, Imagineering Enterprises, Inc described for the Common Council that Imagineering Enterprises, Inc would by the end of the three (3) year designation period (a) invest $550,000 in new personal property at 3722 Foundation Ct. South Bend, IN 46628 (b) create 15 or retain 41 direct jobs; WHEREAS, Imagineering Enterprises Inc. completed a construction of 15,000 S.F. building and has purchased and installed the personal property and met all objectives in its deduction application; WHEREAS, while Imagineering Enterprises, Inc submitted its CF-l/PP form to the City of South Bend Department of Community Investment in May 2021, the company inadvertently failed to timely its related Compliance Statement of Benefits Personal Property Deduction ("CF- 1/PP")to the St. Joseph County Auditor for January 1, 2020; WHEREAS, the Common Council recognizes that (a) Imagineering Enterprises, Inc has fulfilled its pledge to construct a new speculative building purchase; (b) Imagineering Enterprises, Inc has requested a waiver of its inadvertent oversight for failing to file the Application Forms to claim benefits of the tax deduction for the first year of the tax deduction, which the Common Council has the power and authority to approve under Indiana law, and (c) Imagineering Enterprises, Inc would have been entitled to receive the tax deduction for the first two years of the deduction period had no noncompliance event occurred; 1 WHEREAS, the Indiana General Assembly has expressed the policy of this State by enacting laws that expressly permit tax abatement noncompliance events such as the untimely or erroneous filing of an application form to be waived; and WHEREAS, the noncompliance event has been corrected, and a public hearing of the Common Council has been held on the subject of this Resolution. NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Taxpayer has presented testimonial and documentary evidence supporting the Taxpayer's (a) progress towards satisfying its obligations detailed in its original Statement of Benefits and its application for tax deduction related to the personal property located at 3722 Foundation Ct, South Bend,Indiana(the"Property"),and(b)inadvertent oversight leading to. a belated filing of the Form CF-l/PP Statement of Benefits Personal Property Deduction in Economic Revitalization Areas to claim the benefits of a tax deduction for the January 1, 2020 assessment date of the Property. SECTION 2. The foregoing facts, taken together, lead the Common Council to conclude that the Taxpayer has substantially fulfilled its projected plans to purchase, and place in service, and conduct operations at the Property contemplated as part of the 2018 Resolution (the "Deduction") and that its belated filing of an application required to claim the benefits of the Deduction as of for taxes due and payable in 2021 was inadvertent. SECTION 3. The Common Council hereby waives all matters of noncompliance that may be waived under State and local law regarding the late filing of applicable deduction applications in order for the Taxpayer to claim and receive the benefit of the Deduction on its investment contemplated as part of the 2018 Resolution as of the January 1, 2020 assessment date, all as is permitted under IND. CODE § 6-1.1-12.1-11.3 (including specific waiver of any and all nonconformities relating to the requirement, under IND. CODE § 6-1.1-12.1-5 that economic revitalization area deduction applications be timely filed with the county auditor to claim property tax deductions for the 2020-Pay-2021 tax year). SECTION 4. The Common Council incorporates herein by reference, and hereby ratifies and reaffirms: (a)the 2018 Resolution;(b)the tax deduction application and statements of benefits of the Taxpayer; and (c) the recitals of this Resolution. The Common Council and the Clerk of the City of South Bend are authorized to take all such further acts and execute and deliver all such further documents for the St. Joseph County Auditor or otherwise as may be reasonably necessary to give effect to this Resolution, all without further application to or formal action by the Common Council. SECTION 5. This Resolution shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor. Sharon L. McBride, President, South Bend Common Council 2 IMAGINEERINGr' ��� ;��• joy FINISHING TECHNOLOGIES F. �TF.Cj The IuNuav Knurvlrr(SkcSnursr'"fur.11rial Finishing tiulutlm 1/eQ, . off ce Caleb Bauer C/� Oq�N\` fj�O1 ^' Deputy Executive Director C 11i Department of Community Investment FAl f 41 City of South Bend So(/ [FS (574)235-5898 F cbauer@southbendin.gov /N This letter serves to inform you of an omission on behalf of Imagineering Enterprises,Inc.During our annual self-audit,it came f to our attention that we have mistakenly omitted the submission of our Form 322 RE and 322 PP.Imagineering completed our Foundation Court passivation line on 1/31/2019 and our building expansion on 12/16/2019.Upon investigation,with assistance from Kruggel Lawton CPA,we have identified the cause of this omission,as explained below,and have generated a plan to promptly correct this issue. Imagineering had a change in CFO in 2018.The original CFO,Joseph Rowan,began the process of obtaining the abatements for Imagineering.The transition of the abatement status was not properly communicated to me-our current CFO.While we were knowledgeable of the abatements,we believed we were filing all the correct annual documents(CF-I RE and CF-I PP). We were not aware of Form 322 needing to be filed in 2020,upon the completion of our expansions. In addition,our prior CFO,Joseph Rowan,was filing our annual property tax returns.Upon my taking over the CFO role,we requested the services of Kruggel Lawton for our annual filings.We also experienced a change in our Kruggel Lawton representative.Through all this transition,everyone did their part to the best of their knowledge,however,we now know the required submission of Form 322 was not communicated to the pertinent parties. ;Y In 2020,Imagineering faced the challenges that many companies faced due to COVID 19.Our Accounting Manager,Lauren Eby,was pregnant at the time and given the opportunity to work remotely.Due to remote work and her being on maternity leave starting in late April of 2020,we did not have as strong of communication gateways in place before filing in May. Looking back,we could have internally communicated better and asked more questions regarding the abatements. Regarding the 2 projects listed above,the Foundation Court Passivation line was completed on 1/31/2019 at a total cost of $413,642 and the Foundation Court Building Expansion was completed on 12/16/2019 at a total cost of$1,841,111. Regarding our total employment at the Foundation Court facility,our average headcount for the first 4 months of 2022 was 88 full-time employees(which includes a few employees who moved from our other local facility to Foundation Court)with an average wage(combining hourly and salaried,direct and indirect employees)of$27.63 per hour.This compares to an average of 47 employees in 2018 with an average wage of$17.98 per hour,and 67 in 2019 with an average wage of$18.03 per hour. Not included in the 88 current employees,are 5 additional new hires scheduled to start during May`22 as well as 14 additional job ;y positions we have posted,but remain unfilled due largely to continued hiring challenges throughout Covid 19 pandemic and current labor shortage. In 2023,we are scheduled to take on a large new contract supporting a new American made all-electric w:.v truck—this program will fully utilize our new expanded footprint at our Foundation Court facility and is expected to result in at i` least 6 new full-time positions at Foundation Court,not including the new employees/positions mentioned already above. We appreciate you taking the time to consider our request to retroactively file for our abatements.Our goal is to correct our misfiling and maintain compliance. We continue to improve our processes to avoid mistakes like these in the future.If you feel it necessary to discuss this issue in-depth,we are happy to do so. Yours Truly, QN4ti Michael Seiler,CFO&EVP of Strategy r, mseiler@iftww.com 574-287-2941 Ext.723 ,I: