UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, November 2, 1994
5A
City grants businesses tax breaks
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Forgiving the taxes of new and expanding businesses raises the taxes of Lawrence residents, two KU business professors told city leaders last night.
That warning came before the Lawrence City Commission voted 5-0 last night to grant a 50 percent tax abatement to The Garage Door Group, Inc. The abatement allows the company to pay only half of its property taxes for 10 years on a $4.5 million expansion to its plant in the East Hills Business Park off of Kansas Highway 10.
Granting the 50 percent tax abatement to new or expanding businesses is an official practice used by the city to draw business to the Lawrence community. But the professors told the commission last night that the
practice unfairly taxed the average Lawrence resident. When the city needs extra tax revenue, they said, it had to make up what it lost from tax abatements by increasing the property taxes of Lawrence homeowners.
Students who rent are not immune to increases in property taxes. Such costs get passed to landlords, who usually pass that cost to their tenants.
"How is singling out one group fair to the rest of the community?" said Jack Gaumnitz, professor of business.
Gaunmitz said both the city's economic and population growth were healthy enough and did not need a boost from tax abatements. So shifting the burden to the average taxpayer is unfair, he said.
Allen Ford, professor of business,
said the city would be giving up
$29,500 for each job — an amount
more than the income each of those
27 Jobs would bring to the community.
"That's a very significant subsidy for a job," Ford said.
But Bill Martin, director of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said abatements made good business sense. He said such abatements brought more businesses and more total capital to Lawrence.
The commission agreed with Martin. After the meeting, Bob Schulte, city commissioner, said the city used the 50 percent tax abatement because it struck a balance between helping businesses and not overtaxing the average citizen.
"It just seemed like a reasonable thing for the community to do," he said. "It's more of a middle ground than an extreme."
CAMPUS BRIEFS
Police called to Templin Hall to calm distraught Topeka student
Kansan staff report
An 18-year-old KU freshman from Topeka refused to leave his resident assistant's room early yesterday morning in Templin Hall. KU police reported.
According to an information report filed with the KU police, the student said that he thought authorities from the federal government were after him and that they had tapped his telephone. After the police assured him that government officials were not out to get him, he returned to his room, where police found a straight-edge razor. The student told police he was learning to shave, but the police gave the razor to the floor's resident assistant for safe keeping.
Police said the student had not taken his medication, lithium, for a few days. Lithium is sometimes prescribed to people who have broad mood swings. No charges were filed against the student.
Mother whose son was killed in hazing accident will speak
Kansanstaffreport
Eileen Stevens, whose son, Chuck, was killed in a fraternity hazard accident at Alfred University in New York in 1978, will speak at 7 p.m. tonight at the Lied Center.
Stevens is the founder of C.H.U.C.K. the Committee to Halt Useless College Killings. She started the group to educate the Greek community about the perils of hazing. Tonight, she will address hazin in the greek system and how to find alternative activities to hazin.
The lecture will be sponsored by the KU Panhellenic Association and the Interfraternity Council, said Bill
Nelson, assistant director of the Organizations and Activities Center and coordinator for greek programs.
"She is the most prominent speaker on hazing today," Nelson said.
Panhellenic and the council asked Stevens to speak at the University because hazing affects greeks everywhere, Nelson said.
"It's an issue that touches every greek community," he said. "It needs to be discussed and be put at the forefront every year."
Nelson said he did not know of any hazing problems within KU's greek community, but he said that setbacks occurred when leaders in the greek community did not address hazing.
Halloween night horror results in trip to hospital for KU student
"Ideally, we would like to bring Eileen here every three years because of the turnover of greek students," Nelson said.
Kansanstaffreport
A 21-year-old KU student from Leawood was attacked about 11 p.m. Monday in the 1200 block of West Campus Road, KU police reported.
Sgt. Rose Rozmiärak of the KU police said the student was walking on the sidewalk when a car with two men in it pulled up next to the curb. The driver then asked the student if he had been egged. After the student said no, the driver of the car got out and hit the man on the head with an umbrella that he took from the victim.
Officials at Lawrence Memorial Hospital said the student received stitches to his ear. Police are still looking for the suspect who was described as a bald, white male about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 165 pounds.
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