Heritage may be taken off tax rolls

A resolution to be considered at this month's Bedford County Board of Commissioners meeting may make it possible for Heritage Medical Center to be given an in-lieu-of-tax agreement and taken off the city and county's property tax rolls.

Bedrod County Mayor Eugene Ray said this morning the in-lieu-of-tax agreement was agreed upon when the county sold what was then called Bedford County Medical Center to Brentwood-based Community Health Systems in 2005. CHS moved the hospital in July from its old, county-owned building to a new building in Airport Industrial Park. He said County Attorney John T. Bobo has been researching the best way to grant such a tax abatement.

"We're just trying to make sure it's legal," Ray said.

The resolution to be considered this month would create a Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board, which by state law can grant property tax relief to facilities like hospitals.

If the resolution passes at the Dec. 9 county commission meeting, the newly-created board would meet Dec. 15 to elect officers and to approve papers for a tax abatement for the hospital.

Ray and Shelbyville Mayor Wallace Cartwright, along with chairman John T. Pope, of the Shelbyville Industrial Development Board, have signed a document requesting that such a board be incorporated and that the city and county legislative bodies approve it.

The resolution did not go through any of the commission's standing committees; Ray said it was placed on the full commission's agenda by the county finance department and said it's not necessary for every agenda item to go through a committee.

In-lieu-of-tax agreements are commonly used as an incentive to recruit new industries or expansions of existing industry. In the case of an industry, the property is deeded to the local industrial development board, which is tax exempt. The industry then leases the property from the board and pays an "in-lieu-of-tax" payment according to an agreed-upon schedule, which may start with no payment at all and then increase over the life of the agreement.

The resolution being considered this month contains no specifics about what the in-lieu-of-tax agreement would be with the hospital; it merely establishes the health facilities board and authorizes it to make such agreements.

Members of the board would be Ray, Pope, David Crowell, Randy Vernon, Larry Wells, Ron Reed, Wendell Agnew, James Winnette and Anne Blanton.