Lamar council opens discussion on trimming multi-family tax abatement to five years pending housing study

A council member asked the Lamar City Council to open discussion on reducing the city's seven-year urban revitalization tax exemption for multi-family housing to five years, saying the change should be considered given several apartment projects under way.

"I wanna open discussions on backing that up to 5," the council member said, citing a desire to reassess the incentive while multiple apartment projects proceed. City staff cautioned that the state recently changed the urban revitalization program so school taxes are no longer part of the abatement for multi-family housing, reducing the local tax exemption's value roughly by a third.

"This past session, the legislature took away the school portion," Mike, a city staff member, said. "So now it's just the county portion and the city portion. So you are reducing it by a third." Staff also said a full housing study — not merely a needs assessment — will begin immediately and is expected to take about 10 weeks. The study will analyze demand across housing categories (senior housing, apartments, entry-level homes) and advise how many units are needed in each segment.

Council members agreed to await the housing study's findings before changing the abatement policy. One member suggested revisiting the exemption if the study or future market conditions justify it. Staff said they would report back to the council once the study is complete.

No formal action was taken at the meeting; the discussion was recorded for future council consideration once staff provides the housing-study results.