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Posts Tagged ‘economy’

A Message from Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 | Tax News

Greetings! One of the top issues for our country and our community is the economy. Here in Santa Clarita, our business community, Chamber of Commerce, and City work in tandem to help businesses through these tough economic times as well as to help position our business community for the future. The City of Santa Clarita has a three-part economic strategy focused on fostering and encouraging responsible economic development opportunities that result in a jobs/housing balance, established through quality employment opportunities for residents; an economic base through increased sales tax generation, and economic wealth by attracting external monies to the local economy. I wanted to share with you the top 10 work programs our City is doing right now that will best position our business community for the future:

1. Jobs/Housing Balance – The foundation of the City economic development strategy is jobs. Our residents need secure employment to be able to pay their bills, and provide a high quality of life for their families. When residents are secure in employment, they are confident retail and restaurant consumers. The City adds jobs to our community through business attraction where we have seen successful in relocating companies this year such as Ronan Engineering and Quest Diagnostics, and through business retention and expansion where we have seen successful with Advanced Bionics and Aerospace Dynamics International.
2. Creating an economic base through increased sales tax generation. The City works with retail centers to attract the restaurants and stores that our residents want so that we can stop retail spending leakage and support shopping locally. Locally generated sales tax provides a direct barometer of the health of the local economy. By increasing these dollars, the City is continually able to invest in the community.
3. Creating economic wealth through industries like tourism and film. These monies make our community richer, bringing new dollars in, as opposed to re-circulating the same dollars. Location filming generates more than $20 million annually in direct spending to local businesses.
4. The City funds a $1.5 million dollar Economic Development Division with 14 staff designed to attract, retain, and support the City’s targeted business industries, including: Film, Tourism, Aerospace, Biomedical, and Technology, as well as emerging businesses and industry sectors.
5. The City of Santa Clarita’s 21-Point Business Plan for Progress includes a budget of more than $18 million in City and federally-secured stimulus funds, which are being invested in all facets of Santa Clarita, creating immediate jobs while providing long-term benefits to our community.
6. After being named the Most Business Friendly City in LA, Santa Clarita implemented more changes to make it easier to do business in Santa Clarita. This included streamlining the permit process for businesses, creation of a new Permit Center, the introduction of e-plans for electronic plan submission, and deferring of some permit-related fees to encourage business growth.
7. The Santa Clarita Enterprise Zone. The City applied for and secured this program in 2007, recognizing the significant economic benefits it would mean to the business community. To date, Santa Clarita businesses have realized a potential savings of more than $40 million dollars, which they can re-invest in their business.
8. The City continues to focus its efforts on sports tourism and successfully attracted the 2009 Western States Police & Fire Games, which organizers estimate brought more than $8 million to the local economy. The City continues to solicit these types of events, which results in a positive economic impact to local businesses and increased sales tax generation.
9. The City’s Film Incentive Program, part of the 21-Point Business Plan for Progress, has further cemented our reputation as the Most Film Friendly community in the 30-mile zone. Santa Clarita experienced a 40 percent increase in location film days from television production from July through December 2009 when compared to the same time period in 2008. This represents an increase in economic impact to the local economy of $2.6 million.
10. Branding Santa Clarita. The City continually promotes Santa Clarita as the business destination in Southern California through advertising campaigns with radio, print, airport, and cable television in the greater LA market, as well as targeted advertising in film, BioMedical, and business trade magazines and conferences.

Tale of Two Cities: Escondido Denied Enterprise Zone Designation

Friday, August 21st, 2009 | Uncategorized

As five new cities rejoice at being designated as Enteprise Zones, some others, including Escondido, are deeply disappointed at having missed the chance to boost their local ecomony.  The San Diego Union Tribune had this to say:

ESCONDIDO — Escondido’s hopes of becoming an enterprise zone to boost its economy have been quashed.

It lost in the latest round of California Enterprise Zone applications to five other cities: Sacramento, Hesperia near Victorville, Pittsburg in the Bay Area, Tulare near Fresno, and Taft, north of Los Angeles.

“What a disappointment,” Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler said. “We were hoping to add it as a tool to help revitalize our underused area (industrial district).”

The city had hoped to use an enterprise-zone designation and the tax credits it gives to businesses to attract high-tech corporations to diversify Escondido’s revenue.

Almost 40 percent of Escondido’s general fund income now comes from sales tax, which is plummeting and resulting in budget deficits.

In March, the city applied to the state Department of Housing and Community Development to become an enterprise zone, proposing an area that covered almost the entire city.

It was roughly bounded by Country Club Drive to the west, state Route 78 and El Norte Parkway to the north and Midway Drive to the east. The southern border jogged along Oak Hill Drive, Juniper Street, Centre City Parkway and Ninth Avenue.

But Escondido soon learned that it faced record competition, and this week, the department announced that the city lost.

John Nunn, the state’s enterprise-zone program manager, declined to explain the reasons, other than the city scored lower.

Oxnard County Media Pushes for Enterprise Zone

Monday, August 3rd, 2009 | Enterprise Zones

With the need for economic development, certain regions in California are strongly pushing for Enterprise Zone designation.  Most recently, Bruce Stenslie and Steve Kinney, of the Ventura County Star, had this to say about the value of the California Enterprise Zone program:

To understand why cities seek an enterprise-zone designation, and to evaluate its merits, it’s important to understand how it works. Enterprise zones are tied to areas that suffer higher-than-average unemployment and poverty. Businesses within an enterprise zone may receive tax credits for hiring new workers, but only for workers who reside within the enterprise zone or who face serious barriers to employment. The benefits for Oxnard are unique. We have high levels of joblessness in neighborhoods near the city’s industrial and commercial districts, but a disconnect between employers and residents. An enterprise-zone designation will place a premium on the skills developed by workers in the city, by rewarding business with a tax incentive for training and hiring local workers.

If you have a business in an Enterprise Zone, please contact us directly for a free consultation to see the tax credits that are available to you.

Inland Empire Businesses Choose to Stay in California Because of Enterprise Zone Program

Monday, July 13th, 2009 | Enterprise Zones

States from across the country are trying to attract California companies to relocate through a variety of incentive programs, however the Inland Empire area is leveraging the California Enterprise Zone program to retain local businesses.

Bob Dutton, a writer for ‘The Sun’ reported the following two examples of how the EZ program works in the San Bernadino area:

For example, U.S. Rubber Recycling Inc., a manufacturer of recycled rubber flooring products, has been aggressively recruited to relocate to Arizona. They ultimately chose to stay in California because of the incentives and tax credits offered by the Enterprise Zone Program. As a result, 100 good paying jobs remain in California.

A representative from Young Electric Sign Co., a manufacturer of custom electric signs, also shared how they relocated their Southern California operations to San Bernardino solely because of the Enterprise Zone Program. The incentives compelled them to stop looking in other areas because the San Bernardino Valley Enterprise Zone provided the incentives needed to grow their business and staff.

 
 
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