The owners of Iola Pharmacy appealed to Allen County commissioners Tuesday to be included in an Iola-sponsored neighborhood revitalization plan.
Bill Walden, one of the pharmacy’s owners, said the pharmacy’s satellite office — part of The Family Physicians clinic — was built in 2008 with the assumption that the pharmacy would qualify for tax breaks through industrial revenue bonds used to build the facility.
For the past three years, the satellite pharmacy has not paid property taxes, under the assumption that was permissible, said Walden.
“We certainly weren’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes,” he said.
The oversight was caught by Iola banker Jim Gilpin, who had been researching properties built along the 1500 block of East Street when the area was considered a site for the new Allen County Hospital.
Gilpin brought the matter to Walden, et al, who then notified Allen County Appraiser Sandy Drake, who confirmed the pharmacy was not tax exempt.
“A lot of people missed it,” Walden said.
Had they known the pharmacy would not have been eligible for the tax breaks with the medical clinic, they would have filed an application through the city’s Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, Walden said.
But that deadline had long since passed by the time the pharmacy was notified it was ineligible.
“How is this a benefit to the taxpayers?” Commissioner Dick Works asked.
Walden cited the facility’s location, drastically improving an otherwise blighted area that formerly held the city’s landfill and zinc smelters at the turn of the century.
Commissioners asked Walden to submit his request in writing before they decided.
The city and USD 257 have allowed the property tax rebates, county commissioners were told.
Each taxing entity decides abatement exemptions independently.
The county last week heard a similar request for American Self Storage units, although the circumstances were different in that case. In that waiver request, Iola officials acknowledged losing the owners’ abatement application.
Property tax abatements in the program are 100 percent, less 5 percent retained by the county for administration, for five years and then decline by 20 percent a year to zero.
ALLEN COUNTY is relinquishing its title as the fiscal agency for the Juvenile Justice Authority in Kansas’ 31st Judicial District.
Allen County oversaw the financial dealings for the past 12 years. Commissioners and JJA officials agreed it was time to pass the baton to another county. It soon will be located in Wilson County.
Commissioners unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with the other counties and passed a resolution, relinquishing its control.
