Williamsburg pursues tax moratorium for property owners renovating commerical, industrial properties

If you are planning to build a new factory in Williamsburg, do a major renovation to an old building, or you are hoping to make some big improvements to a building you own inside the historic district, then you might want to keep reading.

During its monthly meeting Monday, the Williamsburg City Council held the first reading of an ordinance establishing a property assessment and reassessment moratorium program for qualifying projects.

The project would allow property owners to be taxed for a five-year period based upon the pre-renovation value of the property, and is designed as an incentive package to promote development in the city.

“They are not being taxed on their improvements for five years,” explained City Attorney Kim Frost.

The change applies to commercial properties, industrial properties and properties inside the city’s historic district.

Firestone representatives asked for the ordinance to be passed so there is something in writing guaranteeing the program, Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said.

The Williamsburg plant is in the process of making a $51 million expansion, which will create 250 new jobs. The expansion will add 68,000 square feet of manufacturing space to help meet market demand particularly for the electric vehicle market, and work on the expansion is expected to wrap up by the end of 2022.

Harrison explained how the process will work.

“The first step they will apply for the permits through the city. While they are applying for the permit, if they want to apply for the moratorium, then they do that at the same time. Then the zoning administrator will come to me, and we will determine whether or not it is incentive worthy for lack of a better description,” Harrison said.

If it is incentive worthy, then the Whitley County PVA will be notified, who will do an assessment on the property in question before any improvements are made.

The applicants then have one year to complete the project, but they can apply for a one-year extension after that if the work hasn’t been completed yet.

If the project isn’t completed within that two-year period, then the moratorium wouldn’t apply for the project.

After the owners receive a certificate of occupancy, then the property will be taxed based upon the pre-improvement rate for a period of five years.

After that five-year period, the property will be reassessed with the improvements factoring into the new appraised tax value.

In other words, if you have an empty lot but plan to build a shopping center or a factory on it, then you could apply for the program. After construction is complete, then the land would be assessed for tax purposes as if the shopping center or factory didn’t exist for the first five years after the certificate of occupancy is received.

After that point, you would start paying a property tax bill not based on the value of the empty lot, but the value of the lot, which now has a shopping center or factory located on it.