An effort to simplify the county tax abatement process in St. Joseph County has come up short.

In a vote of 5-4, the County Council chose not to overhaul the county’s tax abatement process. ABC 57 reports that these abatements are meant to help developers by essentially forgiving a portion of property taxes on a new project.

A proposal from councilmembers Amy Drake and Joe Thomas sought to streamline and simplify the process and cut the application from a 15-page form to a 7-page one, to make the county more attractive to developers.

The current abatement ordinances have been on the books for 15 years.