SPECIAL MEETING

December 9, 1997

The Town Council of the Town of Easton met today at 7:30 P.M. The meeting was called to order by the President with the following members present: Mr. Ford, Mrs. Clem and Mr. Heinmuller. Also attending the meeting was the Mayor. Also attending the meeting on behalf of EBMA and the Chamber of Commerce were Mr. Lee Denny, Mr. Tom McDavid and Mr. Joe Carrico.

Mr. McDavid offered assistance in developing policies and discussed impediments perceived to business due to the personal property tax.

The President of the Council Mr. Willey discussed prior budget deliberations and discussions of possible reductions to the personal property tax as well as the difficulties in absorbing all at once.

The Town Clerk discussed the rate reduction proposal.

Mr. Denny suggested cutting the personal property tax in order to rejuvenate growth in the downtown. He discussed options.

Discussion occurred on county indicators and the timing of the County elections.

Discussion occurred on the need to recuse Mr. Willey and Mr. Heinmuller from any vote due to the significant amounts paid by their respective companies.

Discussion occurred on the possible hospital PILOT.

Discussion occurred concerning the budget which would begin in approximately four to six weeks and the probability of a reduction occurring over several years.

Discussion occurred concerning the availability of the breakdown of information and the state's previous responses.

The representatives from EBMA and the Chamber of Commerce offered to contact the top 50% approximately of personal property tax payers and solicit them on their input as to the breakdown between inventory and other personal property.

Discussion occurred concerning real estate and business searches and criteria for relocation.

Discussion occurred on private practices being purchased by the hospital.

There was discussion on the scaling of taxes such as larger businesses having the lesser rate yet still contributing large amounts of dollars and questions of the desirability of an approach such as that.

Discussion occurred on the desirability of businesses being located in the county versus the town due to the personal property tax or the building code in town versus out of town.

The tax differential rebate versus rate reduction was discussed.

Utility deregulation was discussed.

The Council indicated that if the EBMA/Chamber members could generate the breakdown of inventory versus other personal property included in the assessment from their members, that might be helpful for information purposes. Members from EBMA and the Chamber of Commerce departed at approximately 8:40 P.M.

Brief discussion occurred on outstanding parking tickets.

The meeting was adjourned by the President of the Council at 8:50 P.M.

____________________________________________

Town Clerk