City adopts tax incentive program aimed at spurring development

Greater Sudbury city council adopted the Employment Land Community Improvement Plan, which offers developers tax incentives, and will begin accepting applications by September

Billed as a “game-changer” by Mayor Paul Lefebvre, Greater Sudbury city council adopted the Employment Land Community Improvement Plan last week. 

Although last week’s adoption came with little debate, it’s a plan bandied about for the past several months, and followed last year’s adoption of the Employment Land Strategy.

The Employment Land Community Improvement Plan (CIP) joins other such CIPs and incentive programs the city operates in providing tax incentives with the intention of helping spur development.

In this case, it allows the city to forgive a portion of taxes for up to 10 years through a tax increment equivalent grant.

Typically, when there’s a new construction or building expansion, the property will be reassessed once the building permit is completed, at which time property taxes are levied according to the new assessment.

Under the Employment Land Community Improvement Plan’s tax increment equivalent grant, the difference between the taxes levied using pre- and post-development assessed value will be rebated to the property owner by the city for a set number of years.

A scoring matrix determines how many years, between three and 10, that 100 per cent of the tax difference is forgiven.

Construction value: The minimum construction value is $1 million, with the number of points awarded increasing according to value, up to four points for $40 million.
Full-time jobs created or retained: Five points are awarded for one to nine employees, which increases to 11 points for 100-plus jobs.
Strategic employment areas: Five points are awarded if they are located within one of eight strategic areas, including: Fielding Road/Duhamel Road, Lasalle/Elisabella, National Street, Maley East, Coniston, Kingsway, Ceasar Road, Valley East Industrial Park
Five points go to projects within the fields of clean technology and life sciences, which a city report notes, “have a goal of creating a cleaner, healthier community by reducing pollution, improving air quality and water quality, which aligns with the (Community Energy and Emissions Plan) goals. 
Two points go to projects in the field of tourism, film and television.

In drafting the Employment Land Community Improvement Plan, the city reached out to 13 municipalities to learn from their experiences and went through a public consultation process.

The program is slated to launch in September, when the first application intake process will take place. Each application will go to city council for approval.

In a media release issued by the city following last week’s meetings, they note the Employment Land CIP is “the first economic development driven CIP in the City’s history that is focused on investment attraction and expansion.”

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.

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