3/6/14 Job growth in enterprise zone program ahead of schedule

  • By Nick Sabo
  • March 6, 2014
  • 386
                        
SUMMARY: Companies holding EZs have added 174 new jobs Job growth driven by the county’s enterprise zone program is ahead of schedule, with more jobs than expected added to payrolls. Holmes County Economic Development Council executive director Tom Wilke reported Thursday March 6 that the 12 individual companies in the county with active enterprise zone (EZ) agreements have created 174 new jobs, 26 more than the 152 pledged in their EZ agreements. In exchange for meeting job growth criteria, the companies receive a 50 percent, 10 year tax abatement on new construction, projects that are usually the result of an expansion in their business. If the companies do not meet their job growth standards, the EZ agreements can be revoked. The jobs add up to a total annual payroll of $5,076,889, Wilke said. The EZs are approved by the Holmes County Commissioners. Local school districts further have a say in an EZ if the tax abatement is over 50 percent. Wilke presented the numbers at the annual meeting of the Holmes County Enterprise Zone Tax Incentive Review Council. Wilke said nine of the businesses are at or above their job creation goals, with several having gone beyond their promised workforce growth. Three companies have not met their job creation goals. “(The commissioners have) made some good choices and our businesses are living up to their commitments,” Wilke said. The commission voted to terminate two agreements, with Ontario Systems/Timberstone and Dave Easterday/Vada properties. Ontario Systems has sold the facility covered by the EZ to a church, Wilke said, which is non-profit and does not have to pay real estate taxes. Vada Properties used the EZ mostly to install a water tank for a sprinkler system, Wilke said, which the state considers property, not real estate. Companies with an EZ pay an annual $500 evaluation fee, and Vada’s tax abatement only realized a $419 saved on real estate taxes, Wilke said. Wilke recommended terminating the EZ because the evaluation fee was greater than the tax abatement. Vada had pledged to create four new jobs and has reached that goal, according to Wilke. The three companies that did not meet job growth - Yoder Lumber and Buckhorn Woods, Guggisberg Cheese and Winesburg Meat - should meet their goals by the end of the year, Wilke said. Wilke recommended the EZs be continued, and the tax incentive review board voted accordingly. Representatives of the local school districts are invited to attend the tax incentive review meeting. The abatements mean the schools will only collect half of real estate taxes that they would get otherwise without an EZ agreement; once the agreement ends, the real estate is taxed at 100 percent. West Holmes Treasurer Jamie Zeigler attended the meeting and said her school district supports the EZ program for its long term impacts. “At West Holmes, we’re all about the the growth,” Zeigler said. “You don’t get the the taxes in the interim, but long term, it’s a benefit for all.” Companies holding EZ agreements in Holmes County are the following: Coblentz Distributing and Stamark; Yoder Lumber and Buckhorn Woods; Guggisberg Cheese and Quattro G; Winesburg Meat and MLT Winesburg; Winesburg Chair and Winesburg Enerprises; Troyer Cheese and Troyer Land; Provia Door and CBSA; Fryburg Door and D & N Development; Buckeye Seating and Bend Land; Weaver Leather and Weaver Real Estate Holdings; Pride of the Hills and Audrian Properties; Holmes Lumber and Carter-Jones Lumber. Wilke said at least three more EZ agreements are currently in the development stage.


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