Enterprise Zone Designation
Tulare County - Tulare County and its cities are applying to the California Department of Housing & Community Development to be designated as an Enterprise Zone.
An Enterprise Zone is a 15-year partnership between local governments, agencies and private companies to generate new private-sector investment and growth by providing state tax credits and other local incentives to businesses.
The Tulare County Economic Development Corporation (TCEDC) is coordinating the effort, which would replace the county's current Business Incentive Zone (BIZ) designation.
“The only difference is that under the current Business Incentive Zone, only certain businesses qualified for incentives,” said Paul Saldana, TCEDC president and CEO. The Enterprise Zone designation would allow all businesses – commercial and industrial – located in the area to receive incentives.
Saldana expects the application to be submitted by the end of March and a final decision to be made by the end of May. The process “usually takes five or six months,” which means it would probably start on Jan. 1, 2010 and run through Dec. 31, 2024, according to Saldana.
The Enterprise Zone application being prepared and submitted is for substantially the same area that currently is designated as the BIZ. If the designation is approved, TCEDC would voluntarily suspend operations as a BIZ in favor of the Enterprise Zone.
In 1998, Tulare County was designated as a Business Incentive Zone (BIZ), a Targeted Tax Area administered by Tulare County and the cities of Dinuba, Exeter, Farmersville, Lindsay, Porterville, Tulare, Visalia and Woodlake.
“Our current designation doesn't expire until 2012,” Saldana said, but only two Enterprise Zones will be selected then. Four enterprise zones are currently being selected. “There are only 36 enterprise zones that are permitted under state law,” Saldana said.
“If we are not successful this round, we can modify whatever we need to and resubmit it in the next round,” he added.
Tulare County has the only BIZ in the state, according to Saldana. “(The state) would like everyone to be an Enterprise Zone,” he said, adding that there are currently four different kinds of incentive areas in the state, “all pretty much with the same benefits,” but each with its own rules and regulations.
Saldana said that the state's interest in having only one kind of incentive zone may help the TCEDC application. “That's one of the things we're advocating for our purpose in applying at this point,” he said.
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