MORGAN COUNTY BECOMES A RURAL JUMP-START ZONE
On Jan. 17, Resolution BCC 07 was presented to the Morgan County Commissioners to participate in The Rural JumpStart Program. It was approved by a 2-0 vote.
On Feb. 16, the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade designated that Morgan County has become a Rural Jump-Start Zone.
Morgan County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Kristin Clifford-Basil detailed the events leading to
Morgan Count being designated as a Rural Jump-Start Zone.
“The Rural Jump-Start Program was created through the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). It was to be used for economic activities in rural communities,” she said. “We began our conversation with the County in early 2022, and it just didn’t work out at the time. So I kept the conversation with the state and applied to be the local sponsor for the program. Morgan Vankat, the new Program Manager (for Rural Jump-Start Program), came out and presented it to the commissioners and they adopted it and passed it. That was the first step to get the county on board.”
Brush and Wiggins’ municipalities have already passed a resolution to participate in the program. Vankat and CliffordBasil will present the program to the Fort Morgan City Council to have them pass a Resolution to participate.
Tax Benefits
The Jump-Start Program gives a new business relief from state income tax for the new business, state sales and use tax for the new business, county personal property tax, municipal personal property tax, and state income tax for new hires.
“So what local governments are agreeing to are two things: participating in the program and waiving personal property tax only for four or eight years. It’s not indefinite,” said CliffordBasil.
Grant Benefits
A new business in a Rural Jump-Start Zone can receive a matching grant of up to $20,000 and up to $2,500 for each new hire.
Morgan County is designated as a Tier 1 Just Transi
tion Zone which means that it is moving away from using coal as a source of energy. Other counties include Moffat, western Montrose, Pueblo, Rio Blanco, and Routt. A Tier 1 zone matching grants are up to $40,000 for a new business and up to $5,000 for each new hire.
“The grants are a fourto-one match so they would have to invest $160,000 to get the $40,000 back.” Explained Clifford-Basil.
In Morgan County, a new business using the JumpStart Program must be sponsored. Currently, Morgan County Economic Development Corporation is the designated sponsor.
“Business assistance is something we are focused on for economical development. So I applied and they accepted. A new business just needs to work with us to apply for the program,” said Clifford-Basil. “Ideally they would be an investor in MCEDC because we would consider it an investor benefit to help people with this program. Other than that they would have to be located in Morgan County. Then the business should be located in a municipality that is a participant in the program.”
Vankat presented the program to the Fort Morgan City Council on March 7.
Fort Morgan City Manager, Brent Nation, told the City Council, “This a little more of a situation where time is involved with four to eight years of us not collecting personal property tax. This is why I wanted… you to think about it. If you want to bring a resolution back to adopt we can.”
The council will decide on the resolution during the next council meeting.