Ottumwa-IA

7 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 OT TUMWA , IOWA The city also offers several incentives to current and future downtown businesses. For example, it provides assistance to property owners to “white box” any available space, i.e. allowing them to remove everything from a vacant storefront to show an empty space of just bare floors and white walls to prospective tenants. “We also have a good, strong commercial tax abatement program to make sure that if you’re going to make some significant improvements to a business the tax hit is over time,” says Simonson. “It gives people a chance to recover from the big investment that they’re making.” The City Commercial Tax Abatement program requires that all eligible property must be commercially assessed and must exist within the created North Urban Revitalization Area. All improvements must increase the assessed value by at least 15%, and qualified improvements must comply with the rules and regulations of the city’s building and zoning codes. Improvements that can qualify for abatement include new construction, rehabilitation, and additions to existing buildings. Applicants can choose from a 3-year or a 5-year abatement plan.