City Council hears compliance cases from businesses

Posted: Aug 8, 2023 / 10:38 PM EDT

Updated: Aug 9, 2023 / 03:50 AM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — The COVID-19 pandemic and other confounding factors can cause businesses to lean on local government bodies for help. In the City of Fort Wayne, that can often look like designating businesses as Economic Revitalization Areas, meaning that the businesses benefit from tax abatements.

However, Fort Wayne doesn’t just hand out abatements. In return, businesses must make promises to employ a certain number of employees or hit a certain payroll total. When businesses don’t meet the requirements set for the abatements, City Council has to take action, and that’s just what happened Tuesday night for more than 10 businesses.

“In Fort Wayne, we want good paying jobs, and we want good businesses,” said 2nd District Councilman Russ Jehl.

City Council heard reasons why the businesses were not compliant with the goals they set with City Council, and City Council in turn decided whether or not to remove their tax abatements.

“We want to make sure that if taxes are abated, if there is a special deal given to a business that they live up to their end of the bargain,” Jehl said. “The vast majority of the time they live up to their end of the bargain, tonight we heard from those who did not.”

The following businesses were evaluated for compliance Tuesday: