Job Growth Incentive Program re-authorized

Avon Lake City Council has voted to re-authorize the Job Growth Incentive Program for an additional five years.

The new revised legislation was sent to council where it passed Dec. 18 following a 3-0 recommendation by the Economic Development Committee earlier in the month.

“I appreciate the work on this,” said outgoing Councilman Dan Bucci, who chaired the committee. “We really tried to hone in on the companies that were eligible for incentives and what should happen if companies should leave town or announce that they were going to leaving. I think we’ve tightened that up quite nicely.”

The program in its fifth year awards incentives to Avon Lake businesses who have increased their income tax payment to the city based upon hiring more employees in addition to increasing employee salaries and hours worked or a combination of all three factors. Qualifying businesses receive 25 percent of the increase back from as low as $25 to a maximum of $50,000 based on withholding tax.

The main changes to the legislation included reducing the maximum incentive from $100,000 down to $50,000 and codifying program regulations to stipulate businesses must be operating in Avon Lake at the time the incentive is awarded and includes entities that are headquartered in other cities and those who operate under the same address as other businesses. Additionally, different divisions of the same corporation operating in the city would also eligible for the incentive.

Bucci, who was the driving force behind the program along with the creation of the city’s Economic Development Committee and the hiring of Economic Development Director Ted Esborn, recognized the significance of the occasion in being able to vote in favor of the program’s re-authorization in his final meeting as a member of Avon Lake City Council.

Since 2012 the program has provided more than $615,000 to area businesses including nearly $160,000 in 2017 and has served as a model for Avon Lake’s economic development emphasis and support for small businesses.