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At a time when the economy is
under-going a painfully slow rebound, some municipalities have been forced
to become creative when trying to recruit businesses.
Towns, cities, counties and even states have begun
offering large incentives to businesses looking for a place to relocate.
Taxes and development fees are being waived and
other financial packages are offered in a desperate attempt to bring more
commercial and retail development into an area.
Although Apex is aggressively seeking for more
business growth, don’t expect town officials to offer incentives any time
soon.
The way they see it, Apex is a place that can sell
itself.
Town commissioners and Mayor Keith Weatherly
discussed the issue Friday during the town board’s annual retreat at the
community center.
The mayor and all five commissioners agreed that
offering incentives was the wrong path for Apex to take.
“I don’t feel it’s a good policy because it tends
to favor certain businesses over others and you don’t want to do that,”
said Commissioner Gene Schulze. “I don’t like the fact that some
companies play different municipalities or states off each other because
then it becomes a bid-ding war. When that happens then towns and states
start losing taxpayers’ money.
“If a
certain town or state is desperate enough for jobs then I can see where it
would be worthwhile. But I don’t see Apex or the Triangle as a stagnant
area.”
Although the commissioners discussed a willingness
to make some small concessions such as improving infrastructure and
spreading- out development fees over a several-year period, there was a
general consensus that financial incentives would most likely hurt the
town in the long run.
“I think it is short-sighted and generally doesn’t
net advantages to the community because you don’t recoup those incentives
over the long haul,” said Weatherly.
Commissioner
Bill Jensen agreed. “If you do business incentives you need to make sure
you get true payback and that can be difficult to determine,” said Jensen.
The issue of business incentives
was raised following local efforts by Wake County officials to generate
additional economic development.
The county has approached area
chambers of commerce to find out what a town would be willing to do to
land a business.
“The question is going out as to who will provide
some incentives to make the relocation less expensive for their company,
said Weatherly. “So (the county) is seeing which communities might have
(an incentives package) so they will know how to respond to those
questions.
“We thought
we would be proactive and pose that issue here at the retreat. In general,
we would be opposed to incentives but we would not slam the door tight
because there might be a unique possibility. Personally, I would think
having a situation where I would favor incentives is unlikely.”
So what would happen if a hi-tech company bringing
hundreds of jobs to the area wanted to relocate to Apex?
“Well,” chuckled Weatherly,
“then I think we might be able to work something out with them. But it
would have to be something like that, something so attractive where the
benefits to the community would be realized.
“There is certainly the potential
for a unique application of incentives. But they are so unique that you
can’t say Apex is in the business of providing them on a general basis.”
Town officials believe Apex can be very successful
by taking the “what you see is what you get” approach with businesses.
After all, they are confident that what businesses
will see in Apex is very appealing. The town boasts the second-lowest tax
rate in the county, a high per capita income, good living environment,
strong infrastructure and is in close proximity to the Research Triangle
Park and three major universities.
“Our
competitors can’t match what we have to offer here,” said Weatherly. “I
don’t believe they are willing to put up significant financial inducements
to change that advantage that we already have.”
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