OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — The board of supervisors passed a resolution Monday for the county to take part in an incentive program that will give businesses that locate to the area a tax break.
As more than 30 percent of county residents are currently living in poverty, Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins told the board the county has been deemed eligible for the Growth and Prosperity Program, which is designed to encourage development in economically challenged areas of the state.
To be designated as a GAP county, a county must have an unemployment rate that is 200 percent of the state’s annual unemployment rate or must have 30 percent or more of its population below the federal poverty rate. Higgins said Starkville and Oktibbeha County are on the “bubble,” going in and out of the GAP zone.
The intent of the program, Higgins said, is to have a program for counties that need a little extra help bringing companies into them. GAP would allow for all new businesses with 10 employees or more, and existing businesses that expand by at least 10 jobs, a full exemption on state income and franchise taxes, as well as a majority exemption on sales and ad valorem property taxes.
“The only thing that it really does is you are free to give a property tax exemption to a company that comes in and employs more than 10 people,” Higgins said. “Rather than us bringing single deals in, you’re saying anybody that qualifies under the GAP rules and regulations under MDA, will get a tax exemption.”
The resolution is good for 10 years, allowing any new businesses to come in during that time period, or until Oktibbeha County is not considered a GAP zone anymore.
Once a business approaches The LINK about the possibility of starting a company in the county, Higgins will work with it to “find the best possible place it would be successful” within Oktibbeha County. Because the county is not built for large industry, this incentive program is geared toward smaller businesses.
Businesses that could take advantage of this program are manufacturers, processors and companies that produce products and research and development enterprises. Retail and gaming companies are not eligible, Higgins said.
Clay County and West Point and Lowndes and Noxubee counties also take advantage of the GAP program. Higgins said he will approach the city of Starkville about this program as well at the board of aldermen meeting Tuesday.
Higgins said he hopes the program helps recruit at least 300 jobs to the area.
While the board approved the resolution unanimously, District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery asked if the county was required to continue with the contract for the full 10 years, citing that material costs are at an all time high, to which Higgins replied that the county was not.
“We’re struggling as it is with ad valorem taxes, the cost of everything such as soil cement, the list goes on,” Montgomery said.
District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard said he sees GAP as a “glass half full” program and will bring in more revenue to the county.
“As we’re giving away ad valorem taxes for 10 years, you can look at it as if we land those 300 jobs, the salaries that it’s bringing in, look at the funding it’s going to put into the economy, look at the taxes it’s going to bring in for our school district,” Howard said. “ … I want every possible advantage we can get when we’re out there competing.”
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