Agenda - 03-06-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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20 1 payment by the Town of$475,000 over a 5 year period. His calculation is that the Town 2 incentives reflect 86% of taxable value, which is above the County's precedent to go as 3 high as 75%. 4 5 He then commented on the map of North Carolina counties at page 115 that shows how 6 each county is categorized as being in Tier 1, 2, or 3 with regard to applicability of State 7 incentives. He gave an example about State Job Development Investment Grants 8 (J DIG), which the State reserves for "the largest of the large" — projects that will create 9 200 or more jobs. He explained the table on page 116 that demonstrates how Orange 10 County, being in Tier 3, is at a competitive disadvantage with regard to JDIG incentives 11 compared to Tier 2 competitor counties (e.g. Alamance and Granville) and Tier 3 12 competitors (e.g. Vance and Caswell). He said that incentive policy at the County level 13 can help close that gap. 14 15 Steve Brantley said that during the past 2.5 — 3 years, the Economic Development office 16 and County Manager have looked at each business project as they have matured from a 17 first site visit to being a real possibility of landing that company, looking at what might be 18 an appropriate incentive, and discussing that in closed session with the Board when 19 appropriate. He noted that a company wants an answer quickly—they don't want a 20 public process or a 3 week wait. He said that he needs to be able to have a ballpark 21 answer that he can quote and have the Manager check with the Board as appropriate. 22 23 Steve Brantley said that the County's practice of providing performance grants at a 24 maximum of 75% of taxable value for 5 years is in keeping with other jurisdictions. It is 25 not too generous, and is in the median of incentives formulas. This concluded Steve 26 Brantley's presentation. 27 28 Michael Talbert reiterated that it is really important to have flexibility in what we are 29 doing and how we are doing it, and for Steve Brantley to be able to answer a company 30 almost immediately. He said they also must consider the disadvantage of being a Tier 3 31 county - that will make a difference for some projects. Some people may be willing to 32 live in Orange and work in Alamance— others may not. He thinks the Board needs to 33 decide whether they want a formal policy or some fairly broad guidelines. 34 35 Commissioner Jacobs said that they should acknowledge some bottom line parameters 36 that Orange County already has - pay a living wage, low water usage, and provide 37 employee health insurance. If commissioners have other concerns about a project that 38 they would like to raise, we need to create an opportunity for them to do so. 39 40 Commissioner Pelissier raised a question about whether dealing with projects on a case 41 by case issue constitutes a policy, as she understands from the School of Government 42 is required. 43 44 Steve Brantley said there are communities that create incentives based on certain 45 business clusters, such as aerospace or health care. He said that among the conditions 46 for State incentive grants are that companies provide employee health insurance and 47 not only that they pay a living wage, but an average salary equal to 100% of the average 48 wage in that county. Since Orange County has the highest per capita wage in North 49 Carolina, it is harder for companies considering Orange County to meet the prevailing 50 wage requirement of the State incentive programs. 51 The Board discussed incentives considerations for 15-20 minutes and compiled the 52 following list of comments, questions, and feedback for the Manager and staff: 53 54 Do we have a policy by default, and if so, is that insufficient?