New policy aimed at luring business to North Battleford
The city of North Battleford has adopted a formal policy for providing tax breaks as an incentive to lure new businesses to the city, and for existing companies to expand.
City council approved the business incentive policy during its June 13 meeting. It sets out minimum and maximum incentives, along with a number of criteria, including certain sectors of business a company must be involved in to be eligible: renewable energy, manufacturing, oil and gas, mineral processing, and agriculture.
A tax incentive matrix will determine how much of a break an applicant will receive, starting at one year of 100 per cent plus one year of 50 per cent exemption, to a maximum of five years, 100 per cent. It applies to both municipal and school tax. Points will be based on the number of jobs a project creates, the location, how permanent an enterprise is, and special circumstances such as renewable energy.
According to the policy, the city hopes in particular to fill vacant buildings and see more development downtown.