The Baldwin City Council on Monday voted to support a request for a neighborhood revitalization area, which could give a developer a rebate on future property taxes.

Tom Larkin of Flint Hills Development Group asked the council for the support.

Baldwin City Administrator Glenn Rodden said the city doesn’t have a neighborhood revitalization program, although it has considered implementing one in the past. The program makes property owners in designated areas eligible for rebates on the added property taxes that are assessed on improvements made to their properties. Taxes continue to be paid on a property’s base value before any improvements.

In the case of Flint Hills, the improvements would be the apartments planned for the old middle school in the 700 block of Chapel Street, which the company purchased in 2013 from the Baldwin school district for $90,000. Larkin said the developer would be requesting a 95 percent rebate on the improvements for 15 years.

The council directed city staff to work on creating the Neighborhood Revitalization Area and draft a resolution of support for Flint Hills’ request.

The council also agreed to schedule a joint meeting for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 9 with the Baldwin school board and Baldwin City Recreation Commission Board of Directors on the proposed community center. No site yet has been selected for the meeting.

The decision came after BCRC Executive Director Steve Friend requested the city provide $2.5 million of the community center’s estimated $5 million construction cost. The money would be raised from a half-cent sales tax, which would require a citywide referendum.

The Baldwin school board would be asked to provide the remaining $2.5 million of the center’s estimated cost by increasing the BCRC’s mill levy by 2 mills. The BCRC has no taxing authority but has an arrangement with the Baldwin City district to approve its annual 4 mill operating budget. A mill is $1 in taxes for every $1,000 in assessed valuation.

In other business, the council:

• Approved publication of the city’s 2017 budget. The proposed budget would raise the city’s mill levy from 42.304 mills to 43.804 mills. The budget would cap general fund expenditures at $3 million, an increase from the $2.8 million in spending of the current year. The council will consider approving the budget at its Aug. 1 meeting after a 7 p.m. public hearing on the document.

• Approved a $15,000 appropriation request from the Economic Development Corporation. The EDC will use the money to compensate former Baldwin City Chamber of Commerce Director Hank Booth for his economic development efforts. Rodden said the city’s utilities provide revenue for an economic development fund, which has never been used. That account, not property taxes, will provide the $15,000 for the EDC, he said.