1,500 tax abatements granted, deadline is Thursday

Property taxes are due Wednesday, and nearly 1,500 property owners along the Cedar River have been approved for property tax abatements.

The 1.5 percent penalty for late taxes will kick in Thursday.

Applications for tax abatements are due Thursday at 5 p.m., and so far, approved applications will mean a $1.97 million loss in property tax revenue for the city, county and school district. That's less than the $3 million or more projected earlier this month.

Flood victims who lost the use of their property for a time because of the flood qualify for an abatement and should get their applications in quickly.

“There's not going to be a second chance on this,” Supervisor Linda Langston said.

Lisa Kuzela, a Cedar Rapids school board member and flood victim, criticized the supervisors Monday for not mailing the applications to flood victims. She said many people do not know abatement is available to them.

“I asked for the county to send out a letter to everybody that they haven't received an abatement form from,” she said. “Not everybody has access to the information ... If this were your own campaign for re-election, would you depend on hearsay?”

She exhorted people who know flood victims to make sure they know to apply for abatement by Thursday.