Hancock County Council: 6/10/26

Hancock Co. Council 06/10/2026

Terry Bynum reporting

Every year, by May 15, each business in the county that has  been granted a tax abatement is required to file a form with the county(CF-1) stating their total employees and total salaries.  This is compared to the original projections and the county council then determines if the  business has met its projections. If the business has not met the projections, the council investigates why, and can remove the abatement. Today, the council was presented with 27 different abatements.16 of them were ruled in compliance.  The county assessor explained that she highlighted 11 of the abatements as potentially non-compliant, for one of three reasons–missed the deadline, employee county below projections, salaries below projections. 

The council found 5 of the businesses technically non-compliant, but accepted the CF-1’s because they were substantially compliant(i.e., the employee count was below projections, but salaries were above projections),  The council asked the Assessor to send letters to 5 additional business that are non-compliant, asking that they appear before the council at the August meeting to explain why.  There was some disagreement on this issue–Mary Noe voted No a couple of times–particuarly not wanting to cut any more slack to a particular business, since this is the 2nd or 3rd year in a row that they company has been non-compliant. Part of the problem with these non-compliant abatements is that most of them are for spec warehouses built 3 years ago that STILL haven’t found tenants. It will be interesting to see what reasons are presented in August. 

The rest of the meeting was routine–moving money around from one fund to another, or appropriating money to cover anticipated expenses. 

    They also approved, on first reading, a resolution to issue a General Obligation bond for 2026.  Public hearing to be scheduled soon. 

    The county judges appeared asking for money to create a new position and hire a court manager.  

   A couple of departments are asking to change a part time position to full time, or vice versa, with no appreciable change in budget. 

    There was some discussion and a brief public comment session on the tax abatement request from Scales of Success (that was originally presented last week).  Again, because this is a  35 thousand square foot building rather than a million square foot warehouse, the council seemed much more amenable.  A public hearing has been set for June 30.