The County Commission on Wednesday voted 5-3 to approve a controversial PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) for a housing project on Lindsay Street.
The same project was passed in a close vote at the City Council.
Voting in favor were Jim Fields, Greg Beck, Joe Graham, Randy Fairbanks and Marty Haynes.
Opposed were Tim Boyd, Sabrena Smedley and Chester Bankston.
Warren Mackey abstained, saying he needed more time to get answers about the project.
Commissioner Boyd said approving such tax abatement programs could lead to a property tax increase. He said the Walk2Campus project near UTC had "no jobs and no sales tax" and was not in a blighted area.
The project, which has 20 percent of 64 rental units set aside for low to moderate income residents, is aimed at downtown workers, UTC professors and others, according to officials of the River City Company.
Commissioner Boyd asked for a list of tax abatements granted thus far.
Kim White of River City said there is a pent up demand for rental housing downtown, but it is hard to get developers interested. She said the tax abatement was a necessary ingredient.
Under the PILOT, taxes remain at the current level for 10 years, then go up in increments of 20 percent each over the last four years of the agreement.
Commissioner Fairbanks said he was in favor because the school tax on the property is now $2,282 and it would go up to $34,395. The full school tax would be paid.
Commissioner Smedley said the commission had not acted on freezing property rates for the elderly and seniors, but was giving a $1 million tax break to a developer.
Commissioner Graham noted that he is on the River City board, but said he would vote anyway.
After the vote, Mark West of the local Tea Party, said Commissioner Graham had "a huge conflict of interest" in being on the River City Board and voting for a project promoted by River City.