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situation. He believed they needed to make Piper aware of our tax dilemma, and if Piper wants to <br />be here Piper would have to be flexible and give us time to get everything on board. <br />Vice Mayor Sabin Abell discussed the possible sales of Piper's present operations and its <br />possible move, noting that it would cost Piper between $20-30 million in removal expenses and <br />that would take time. He felt that for the Legislature to put us in a bind by this hurried property tax <br />issue, that an exception could be made during this Special Session recognizing this potential loss <br />of sales tax, so we might be able to consider a dual option. It seemed to the Vice Mayor that if <br />Piper were interested in staying here it would be worth the effort to give us the opportunity to go <br />through the regiment enforced by the Legislature unless we can get some special exemption. The <br />referendum was the last thing he wanted to do. <br />Councilmember Fish believed Piper was transportable and did not see Piper being tied to <br />the community. He cautioned that if City and County buy the facility and give them rent-free, and <br />Piper vacates the facility, they would be stuck with these large buildings trying to decide what to <br />do with them. <br />Councilmember Ken Daige thanked City and County staff for all the work they did on <br />this venture. He thought the incentive package on the table was the best we could do, and wanted <br />to see the package go forward. <br />Commissioner O'Bryan thought voter referendum would not be pleasing to the voters <br />given the current climate. He suggested they cut their budgets as much they could and come up <br />with a 5-0 vote of how much to spend and see if the State would come up with the rest. He thought <br />maybe they could make the referendum the second option and believed their best chance for a win <br />was to come up with the most they can spend. <br />Commissioner Bowden believed that the people of this community would be willing to <br />help, if the issues were brought to them. <br />June 21, 2007 5 <br />Joint Meeting/City of Vero Beach re Piper Aircraft <br />