Funding is still available for senior citizens and disabled veterans to apply for the city’s property tax rebate program.
During Monday night’s meeting, City Manager Kevyn Gero said the commission needs to consider what they want to do with the property tax rebate program for seniors and disabled veterans since this year was a pilot program.
Budget Analyst Michael Gentry said the city is still taking applications for the program until funding runs out. The city has given out 22 checks for applicants, and has enough funding for 18 more. He said the plan is to do another campaign on the program after it’s died down. He said he is pretty confident they will be able to get a majority sent out.
Mayor Tim Reazin asked if the city had received any requests about the downtown grant funding that was used for this new program.
Gero said they had not heard any requests for applications for that project.
Reazin asked if there was an opportunity to roll the money over again to the property tax rebate or if there was a need to do both the downtown grant and the rebates.
Gero said the city could look into it but said that the downtown grant applicants had died down over the last few years. She said she could ask the Chamber of Commerce what they thought about the grants. Many had bigger projects that were more expensive than what the grant would’ve paid for, she said.
Reazin said he likes the impact the property tax rebate has on the seniors, especially coupled with the county’s rebate program.
City Commissioner Roberta Lehmann asked how much each applicant receives and if that number needs to be altered.
Gentry confirmed that people can get $500 for their application, which is about a third of the bill for a home valued at $370,000 in 2026.
Reazin said that seemed like a significant amount especially when looking at how the bills have gone up over the last five years.
Gentry said he has received positive reactions and it’s been appreciated by the community.
Applications will still be available in-person at City Hall and online at this link.