Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tax Amnesty topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mount Vernon council approves temporary tax-interest amnesty for commercial properties
Summary
The Mount Vernon City Council on May 19 approved an ordinance creating a temporary tax-interest amnesty program for commercial properties that provides a 50% abatement of interest and penalties for qualifying accounts, subject to specified lookback and current-tax requirements.
Mount Vernon — The Mount Vernon City Council approved an ordinance May 19 establishing a temporary tax-interest amnesty program for commercial properties that will abate 50% of interest and penalties for qualifying accounts.
The program requires participants to settle outstanding city taxes assessed prior to 2023 and to settle school taxes assessed prior to 2020. In addition, participants must be current on city taxes for 2023 through 2025 and on school taxes for 2020 through 2024 to receive the abatement, the comptroller said.
The comptroller described the program during a special council meeting called to consider the measure. "It's gonna be a 50% abatement, for interest and penalties," the comptroller said. He added that qualification would require settling the older tax liabilities and being current on the more recent years.
Council members moved and seconded consideration of the ordinance during the finance and planning portion of the special meeting. A roll call vote recorded "Aye" votes from Councilman Boxo, Councilwoman Leeson, Councilman Poteet, Councilman Thompson and Council President Graham; the clerk announced the motion carried.
Clerk Bonilla said the meeting had been noticed to the Journal News, posted at City Hall and promoted on the city's website and social media. The council president noted that the proposal followed requests the comptroller had received from several business owners and that the item had been discussed at the previous regular council meeting.
The council conducted the vote at a special meeting convened May 19, 2025; no additional conditions, effective dates or implementation details beyond the qualifying years and current-tax requirements were specified during the discussion. The meeting concluded with a reminder from the council president about local school and library board elections on May 20.
The ordinance text and implementation procedures, including effective dates and administrative steps for property owners to apply, were not detailed in the transcript and were not specified during the meeting.
