Government officials behind a push to establish an Enhanced Enterprise Zone that would encompass most of Webster County said the zone is a necessary tool for creating jobs.
EEZs are specified geographic areas designated by local governments and certified by the Missouri Department of Economic Development, based on income data by census tract. Local property tax abatement and state tax credits are extended to new and expanding businesses within a zone's boundaries, as long as the company creates at least two new jobs, invests a minimum of $100,000 and pays at least half of its employees' health insurance premiums.
Webster County Presiding Commissioner Paul Ipock said the county initially explored the possibility of establishing an EEZ along Interstate 44 with Greene County and the cities of Strafford and Marshfield, but later elected to pursue a countywide zone. Ipock said some census tracts within the county would need to be excluded from the zone to meet statutory requirements.
Ipock said there was widespread support for the EEZ at a Sept. 22 informational meeting hosted by the commission and attended by representatives from several Webster County municipalities, including Rogersville, Marshfield and Niangua.
"Small-town USA is suffering right now, and Webster County is just like any other county: We need jobs," Ipock said.
The city of Seymour is not participating in the county effort, because it established an EEZ four years ago.
Seymour Administrative Assistant Monte Calfas said the zone was instrumental in recruiting Ozark Hardwood Products, which manufactures oak hardwood pellets and cedar horse bedding. Ozarks Hardwood initially created 17 jobs, but Calfas wasn't sure of the company's current employee headcount.
"Especially in today's economic environment, everybody's out for the same thing," he said. "If there are 17 or 1,700 jobs available, everybody wants them in their community. And you just use whatever tools you got."
Webster County officials are taking a similar approach. Commissioners said they aren't attempting to recruit specific companies, but rather to lay the competitive groundwork for future recruitment efforts.
"We're a fast-growing county, and any type of industry we could bring in that would bring good jobs that wouldn't be harmful to the environment is something that we need," Ipock said.
Lyndall Fraker, Webster County's southern commissioner, said DED officials have indicated that establishing a countywide EEZ should streamline the application process. He said the next order of business would be the formation of a seven-member board to oversee the EEZ and set the tax-abatement rate, which must be a minimum of 50 percent for five years. After five years, the property tax is levied in full.
Marshfield City Administrator Dan McMillan said his city would be willing to temporarily forego property tax revenue in exchange for a company's long-term effect on the tax rolls and local employment. One of the city's major employers, York Casket, laid off 150 people when it closed its manufacturing facility in 2007.
"When you lose jobs for whatever reason, it gets your attention, and you want every tool you can to put in your toolbox so you can compete with other communities that are out there looking, too," McMillan said.
Mount Vernon is another Ozarks city that has jumped on the EEZ bandwagon. DED certified the Lawrence County seat's zone in early August. Mount Vernon City Administrator John Rice said that EEZs are becoming a boilerplate economic development tool.
"If everybody around you has an Enhanced Enterprise Zone and you don't, it definitely puts you at a competitive disadvantage," he said. "For one thing, a lot of these type of industries will look at you through the Internet or your Web site."
Rice said perhaps the most difficult part of the EEZ process was arranging the boundaries to encompass three industrial parks in Mount Vernon. He said the zone ended up being smaller than the city had originally hoped.
Webster County officials hope to schedule additional informational meetings and a public hearing later this year. The goal is to have the EEZ certified by the end of January, Ipock said.[[In-content Ad]]
