The Austin City Council approved extending the Housing Tax Abatement program out to December 31st, 2022 at their Monday meeting at the Austin City Council chambers.  The council adopted a pilot program for the abatement in August of 2016, and Austin City Administrator Craig Clark told KAUS News that under the program, any new single or multi-family housing built in Austin would receive a five-year tax abatement, pending approval, which would eliminate property taxes during those five years….

Clark went on to state that the program has been popular in the City of Austin…

The Mower County Board of Commissioners has also approved the extension of the program, and the Austin School Board will address the issue at their next meeting.  All three entities must approve an abatement request for it to go through. The current program is scheduled to expire on December 31st. Clark went on to state that the city has approved 40 housing tax abatements, though not all have ultimately moved forward with construction. While this was not a sizeable increase that could be directly linked to the abatement program, Clark noted that there continues to be a significant demand for housing at all levels in the community, citing information from the city’s 2017 housing study.  Clark went on to state that one of the abatement requests that have been approved included an 83-unit multi-family apartment complex.