City to vote on tax agreement with Chapman Corporation
Washington city council renegotiated a 20-year-old tax agreement with Chapman Corp. and plans to vote on it today.
The original agreement from the late 1990s set a $100,000 cap on what Chapman had to pay in city business privilege tax. The city and Chapman have agreed to increase that number to $165,000.
Chapman Corp., headquartered at 331 S. Main St., is an industrial construction and engineering firm. City computer systems coordinator Lynn Galluze said Chapman paid $100,000 in business privilege tax in 2017.
Councilman Ken Westcott, who had been a councilman at the time of the initial contract with Chapman, said a 10-year-agreement was reached that should have been revisited in 2008. He said the conversation started then because while the company’s headquarters is in the city, most of its business is done elsewhere and the company didn’t feel it should be taxed for employees not working in the city.
“They felt they would be unfairly taxed, since this is their home base,” Westcott said. “We realize Chapman is an asset to the city, and we just don’t want to lose the business. So, we sat down at the table and that’s the number we came up with working with them.”
The city will vote on the agreement as well as an ordinance to support it. The ordinance provides for a cap on business privilege tax at $165,000. Westcott said he’s not aware if the city has any similar agreements with other businesses.
If the ordinance is approved today, Mayor Scott Putnam said the agreement won’t need to have a time limit like the previous one.
Chapman Vice President John McCarthy declined to comment Tuesday.