City council votes down tax abatement for grocery store

FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) - A grocery store wanting to come to Frankfort will not receive a tax break from the city.

A tax abatement for a retail business got voted down 5-2 by the city council Monday night.

During the meeting, it was brought up that a grocery store is a retail business. Council members were concerned that other retail businesses in town didn't receive tax abatements.

Ruler Foods is a subsidiary of Kroger. As News 18 reported last week, the discounted grocery store wants to build off Hoke Avenue where a Kmart once stood.

Before the retail business could ask the city council for a 7-year tax abatement to phase in their property taxes, the council had to vote a third and final time to designate the area as an economic revitalization area.
    
Councilman Eric Woods said he supported the economic revitalization area on its first two votes. But Monday, it was a different story.

Woods said the council was told the area was blighted. He said after some research of his own, he had to disagree. That's why he abstained his vote on whether to designate the area as an economic revitalization area, which the council passed 6-0.
    
Since Woods' family has owned Schulz's IGA in Frankfort for years, he said it was the right thing to do.

"I did not want to stand in the way of Ruler Foods' ability to come to this council with their plea for tax abatements. That was the reason for my abstention, that because quite frankly, I do work at another grocery store, I did not want to stand in the way of that procedure," explained Woods.

Woods was one of the five council members to vote no.
    
Mayor Chris McBarnes said only time will tell if Ruler Foods still decides to come to Frankfort.