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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Property owners in Ottumwa may be eligible to apply for a tax abatement.

The Ottumwa Planning and Development Department is accepting applications for property tax abatement under two programs.

The first is a residential tax abatement program, which reduces property taxes on residential properties that have seen construction, improvment or additions in the last year. Homeowners can select a three, five or 10 year program.

"What would happen is they would pay their existing taxes that they pay on the property, but the abatement would be on the value added, or the improvements," Ottumwa City Planner Dave Shafer said. "So instead of realizing the increase in your taxes as a result of the improvements, that value would be abated, or forgiven."

The second program accepting applications is for commercial properties. Improvements to commercial properties that increased the property value by at least 15 percent are eligible for a three or five-year plan.

Commercial applications do have geographical restrictions. Areas avaiable for abatement must be within the Rochester North Urban area, bounded on the south by Rochester Road, on the west and north by the railroad tracks and on the eat by the Ottumwa City Limits, or in the Downtown North Urban area, bounded on the south by the Des Moines River, on the north by Fourth Street, west to Wapello Street and east to Jefferson Street.

Shafer said the application is simple, requiring a building permit number and the date the improvement or construction was completed.

Applications are due by February 6.

Anyone with questions or requring further information can contact the Planning and Development Department at 683-0606.