Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Enterprise Zones offer incentives, such as tax breaks, to businesses that expand or locate within their boundaries. Those incentives are shared by the state and localities.
Pulaski Town Council is looking into what incentives it could provide, Barry Matherly, the town's economic development director, told the executive committee of its Economic Development Board Wednesday.
Localities applying for Enterprise Zones once thought they could get away with offering "little menial things," Matherly said. "The state isn't buying it when it's putting out millions of dollars per area."
State offerings range from money to tax breaks for new or expanding businesses and industries in an Enterprise Zone. Town incentives could include partial waivers of water and sewer costs, among other things.
The Economic Development Board already already has some 30 members in place who could oversee an Enterprise Zone, an advantage because the state is suggesting that applicants form a representative community group for this purpose. That would seem to put Pulaski one step ahead, Matherly said.
"Not only do they [state officials] want to see an area that deserves attention, they want to see an area that can rise to the opportunity to turn itself around," Matherly said. The restoration of the Old Pulaski County Courthouse on Main Street, the renovation of a former train station to house a museum and chamber of commerce offices and new businesses rehabilitating empty buildings should all count heavily in that part of the application, he said.
Decisions on Enterprise Zones are expected quickly. "They are going to have the determination made in November and have the zones operating by January," Matherly said. "It would be great if we could get it."
by CNB