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South Bend Redevelopment Commission <br /> Regular Meeting—February 22, 2010 <br /> 7. PROGRESS REPORTS (CONT.) <br /> committee, and the committee had some discussion <br /> about what was referred to as data center legislation the <br /> state passed in 2009 allowing for personal property <br /> exemption for equipment related to those types of <br /> businesses. As a part of that, it was communicated to the <br /> Council that we would be coming back with a resolution <br /> at their next meeting, which is next Monday, February <br /> 28, 2011. The resolution was filed this week. Essentially <br /> what it does, should the Council approve it, would <br /> indicate the Council's policy intent to take state law and <br /> use it to approve personal property tax exemptions for <br /> those types of businesses in South Bend. So if a <br /> company meets the state law requirements, the Council <br /> is saying it would look favorably upon that exemption. <br /> Attached to the resolution, there are forms for the <br /> declaratory and confirming resolutions that would <br /> implement it on a project-by-project basis. Probably the <br /> first project would be Data Realty, the project at Ignition <br /> Park. State law also requires there be an agreement <br /> between the Council and the business, so a form for that <br /> was drafted as well and will be attached to the <br /> resolution. We want to make sure on the back-end <br /> reporting, if you have the exemption, you know how to <br /> claim it on your taxes. The Department of Local <br /> Government Finance already created a new form— <br /> 103IT —to claim that exemption. We believe we've <br /> covered not only the policy statement so we can market <br /> to these types of businesses and attract them to the <br /> community, but also addressed the process once we get <br /> them here. Hopefully Monday we'll have some good <br /> discussion and perhaps passage of the resolution. These <br /> projects would generate jobs, typically high-paying jobs, <br /> but not many jobs per project. Real property taxes <br /> would be generated on the buildings they go into. But <br /> the big investment for these companies is the personal <br /> property. We are at a disadvantage when our <br /> competitors have no personal property tax. <br /> Mr. Downes asked what surrounding states do. Mr. Inks <br /> responded that Illinois in particular has no property tax <br /> 23 <br />