Bunnell to weigh business incentive program

BUNNELL — Under the heading “nothing succeeds like success,” Bunnell government officials are putting the final touches on a business incentive program to be considered by the City Commission.

The plan was created by City Manager Alvin Jackson and Community Development Director Rodney Lucas and aims to increase the county seat’s economic base with a performance-based incentive policy.

“Actually, it is the business incentive program that I developed in Suwannee County and it ended up being an award-winning incentive program,” Jackson said.

The plan would grant businesses a partial rebate on property taxes if they meet job creation, business expansion or capital investment targets.

“If they perform, they would be entitled to a partial rebate from their taxes, depending on the number of points they get,” Jackson said. “The other piece we are incentivizing is really trying to encourage private investment to do a spec building.”

Jackson said encouraging private developers to build “spec,” or speculative, buildings would give the city more leverage in attracting companies looking to expand or relocate.

“It creates shortcuts so when an industry is looking for more sites, we have product on the ground so they don’t have to build new product from the ground up,” he said.

Jackson said a business incentive program is particularly important for a small city like Bunnell, which does not have the deep pockets to lure new business development with cash incentives, free land or free buildings.

“Here in Bunnell, we don’t have those kind of dollars to do that and we shouldn’t want to do that,” he said. “Economic development is one of our top priorities and this is a way of doing it. And if a company doesn’t perform, there is no rebate.”

Jackson said the city is ready to implement the program immediately if the City Commission approves.

“Actually, we have a company that is knocking on the door right now, a manufacturer,” he said. “If this is approved, we’re able to move forward with the program immediately.”

The incentive program could also have a positive impact on county economic development efforts, according to Helga van Eckert, executive director of the Flagler County Department of Economic Opportunity, citing ongoing relationships with other local governments.

“We’ve been working closely with Bunnell trying to sync county programs with programs the city is offering,” she said. “Setting the proper atmosphere for the businesses and site selectors when they come in to know they are going to be welcomed is a big deal. Putting these programs in place ensures the message is very clear.”

City commissioners are slated to consider the business incentive plan at a meeting beginning at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at City Hall, 201 West Moody Blvd.