Gardner will consider tax abatement for intermodal hub

Click the title for the full story. This seems like the dumbest thing a city could do, especially with developers willing to come to this area, at full tax value. Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 2:45 PM CDT Gardner will consider tax abatement for intermodal hub Kansas City Business Journal The Gardner City Council will meet Wednesday to discuss granting an extraordinary tax abatement and seeking state help with bond financing to support a BNSF Railway Co. intermodal logistics hub. David Drovetta, the council's president, said the council called a special meeting so the Kansas Legislature could act on the request before its annual session ends. State financing would let the city meet a previously set timetable of annexing property for the hub in April, Drovetta said. The council will consider abating the hub's property taxes by 85 percent for 10 years, Drovetta said. The cut is 35 percentage points above the city's standard abatement and would let the hub compete with other incentive-supported development elsewhere in Johnson County, he said. The council's Wednesday agenda also includes asking the state to back the city's draw from the state's transportation revolving loan fund.