Fort Madison, IA – The Lee County Board of Supervisors approved the 100th application for the program earlier this week. The panel created the incentive in December of 2006.
The property taxes for qualifying projects (new construction or addition) are waived for two years.
Supervisor Larry Kruse says the program has worked out well. He says, "We are seeing quite a bit of construction in the county, so if you are judging by the number of applications we have... I think we would say it has been very successful."
The Lee County Assessor's office has signed off on roughly 3/4 of the project applications. The qualifying projects carry a total value of nearly $6,000,000.
Assessor Teresa Murray says the numbers will increase as current assessments are completed and projects are finished. She says her office encourages applicants to wait to seek the exemption.
Murray says some projects have not qualified because they did not increase the assessed value of a property by 10%.