A public taxpayer group is asking a Chattanooga panel to not adopt refinancing for the Bread Factory apartments when it meets Wednesday.
Accountability for Taxpayer Money said there's no evidence to show that any units at the 1615 Cowart St. apartment complex have ever been set aside for low and moderate income or that incomes had been verified.
"ATM respectfully submits that this is a good opportunity to represent Chattanooga and Hamilton County citizens," the group said in a statement. "We do not believe it is good stewardship to enable a company to use our (uncollected) city and county taxpayer dollars as a bargaining chip to make more money on a project that has provided no public benefit for 15 years."
The Chattanooga Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board is slated to take up the refinancing issue.
The Bread Factory Lofts was the first payment in lieu of tax (PILOT) agreement approved under the city's 2002-2012 Housing PILOT program, according to ATM.
In 2002, HEB approved the PILOT, in which the Bread Factory LLC paid no property taxes to the city and county, including for schools, for the first 14 years. It is now in its four-year phase-in period, ATM said.