Hearing held for Scott County enterprise zone project

BENTON -- There may be a silver lining to the big gray cloud of the January ice storms after all for Scott County.

A public hearing for the Scott County enhanced enterprise zone was held during the regular County Commission meeting Tuesday.

Establishing the zone has been "kind of been a long struggle for us," said Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger. But, he said, "I think it will be a very good thing for Scott County over a long period of time."

County developer Joel Evans said he began working on the project about two years ago.

Enhanced enterprise zones are geographic areas designated by local governments and certified by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Incentives such as tax credits and tax abatements can be offered to qualifying new or expanding business within that zone.

When Evans began the project, only about a third of the county was eligible for inclusion in the zone.

"Some areas were not eligible because of the poverty and unemployment rates," said Steve Duke, executive director of the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission at Dexter, Mo.

Following the January ice storms, the county received a disaster declaration. "That made the entire county eligible for the enhanced enterprise zone," Duke said.

The revised geographic area for the zone includes the entire county excepting only the city of Sikeston, which already has its own enhanced enterprise zone, and three small areas of unincorporated county area near Sikeston that cannot be included as they are not contiguous with the county zone.

In addition to areas that weren't eligible before the ice storms, "initially the city of Miner opted out," Burger recalled.

The administration for the city of Miner, Mo., which had declined to participate, and some of the taxing entities in the county had expressed concerns about the loss of tax revenue from the abatement incentives the zone provides incoming and expanding businesses.

Evans said bringing those entities on board was a matter of making it clear that it is better to get "half of something instead of all of nothing." With no enhanced enterprise zone in place, a location can "get looked over by a lot of businesses before you even know you are being considered," he said.

The revised geographic area for the zone includes the entire county excepting only the city of Sikeston, which already has its own zone in place, and three small areas of unincorporated county area located near Sikeston that cannot be included as they are not contiguous with the county zone.

Evans said he is looking for the zone to be approved by the Missouri DED shortly after the beginning of the year.

Burger said he was both surprised and enlightened by the number of interested parties that attended the zone's public hearing.

Carol Shoemaker, a specialist for the Missouri DED, answered several questions during the hearing about the zone eligibility.

Shoemaker noted that incentives are directly tied to jobs that are actually created and that to be eligible under state requirements, the employer must pay at least the county's average wage and at least half of the employee's health benefits.

She advised that gambling establishments, retail trade, educational services, religious organizations, public administrators and food and drinking places are all prohibited by statute from receiving the state tax credits.

The zone board determines what level or tax abatement to offer, according to Shoemaker, with a minimum of 50 percent for 10 years and a maximum of 100 percent for 25 years.