REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL FROM THE CITY MANAGER February 17, 2015

Transcription

1 REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL FROM THE CITY MANAGER February 17, 2015 Subject: Recommendation to Inform Other Taxing Districts of the City s Intent to Apply for an Enterprise Zone Designation. Background. Currently, Oregon enterprise zones are sponsored by: 2 (out of 9) Indian Tribes, 30 (out of 36) counties, 11 (out of 23) ports and 117 (out of 242) cities. In addition, seven cities, ten ports and five counties consent to zones within their territory that are sponsored by overlapping jurisdictions. The staff continues to investigate the possibility of submitting, by April 10 th, an application for an Enterprise Zone Designation. Enterprise Zones can be noncontiguous. The maximum area of the zone is 15 square miles with lineal distances of 5 miles maximum for "leap frogs" and 15 miles maximum in overall diameter of the Zone. The local taxing districts that effect the City of Sheridan are: Yamhill County Yam Co Ext. Service Yam Co Soil & Water S.D. 30J Willamina School District Willamina School bonds S.D. 48J Sheridan School District Sheridan School bonds Willamette Regional ESD City of Sheridan Sheridan Fire Chemeketa Library Chemeketa Comm College Chemeketa Comm College (bonds) Attached is a list with more detail about the local taxing districts within the Cities of Sheridan and Willamina. There are 13 potential local taxing districts invited to a public meeting concerning the Enterprise Zone along with the City of Willamina representatives. The State requirement is to send notice/invitation to a consultation meeting to all nonsponsoring local taxing districts between February 9 th and March 6 th. Discussion. Page 1 of 10

2 1. Can we form an Enterprise Zone in the West Valley? Amity, Sheridan and Willamina are within 15 miles of each other BUT since Sheridan and Amity have more than 5 miles between them, some Yamhill County land would need to be added between the two cities in order to include Amity into a proposed zone. 2. What are other cities doing? It appears that Willamina is ready to form a combined Enterprise Zone with the City of Sheridan. Amity understands that the County must join the Zone but the County does not seem willing or able to make the necessary decisions within the short timeframe needed to apply this year. An established Zone can be modified in the future, so Amity and the County can join next year. Amity understands this and is willing to join in the future after coordination with the County. 3. What are the taxing districts? There are 13 taxing districts affected if the West Valley Enterprise Zone includes the Cities of Sheridan and Willamina. They are listed in an attachment to this paper. 4. What are the costs for applying for the Zone? The Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments (COG) will do the application for us. COG quotes a cost for doing the application as $1,000 for completion of the application, but also fees for attendance at meetings at $250/per meeting ( Renata Wakeley Thursday 2/5/2015 3:59 pm). 5. Who will be the Zone Manager? The zone manager works with the businesses and the tax assessor to set up a tax exemption. SEDCOR is the zone manager for most zones in Polk and Marion County. We are working with them to determine a cost for those services. Recommendations. Based upon the above, recommend that the City Council 1. Authorize the Sheridan city staff to proceed with the application as a joint venture between Willamina and Sheridan, and 2. Authorize the staff to inform the other taxing districts via letter mailed by Friday, February 20 th about the zone application and the public meeting to be held on March 16 th, and 3. Conduct a public meeting with the other taxing districts on March 16 th at the beginning of the regular City Council meeting. Francis D. Sheridan Francis D. Sheridan City Manager Page 2 of 10

3 Attachments: 1. Information from the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments about Mapping Areas and Distances for potential Enterprise Zones (1 page). 2. Information concerning Local Taxing Districts within the Cities of Sheridan and Willamina (2 pages). 3. Sample Letters to Other Taxing Districts (4 pages). References: 1. Report to the City Council from the City Manager, December 15, 2014, A Brief Presentation on Enterprise Zones. 2. Report to the City Council from the City Manager, December 15, 2014, Tax Information for Fiscal Year Report to the City Council from the City Manager, February 2, 2015, Update on Business Oregon s Enterprise Zone Designations. 4. ORS (Oregon Revised Statutes) 285C C OAR (Oregon Administrative Rules) Page 3 of 10

4 Enterprise Zones can be noncontiguous; maximum area of the zone is 15 square miles; lineal distances are maxed at 5 miles for "leap frogs" and 15 miles maximum in overall diameter. Amity, Sheridan and Willamina are within 15 miles of each other BUT since Sheridan and Amity have more than 5 miles between them, some Yamhill County land would need to be added between the two cities in order to include Amity into a proposed zone. Distances: Sheridan City Limits to Willamina City Limits: 10, 561 feet (2.0 miles). Sheridan UGB to Willamina UBG: 9,928 feet (1.88 miles). Sheridan City Limits to Amity City Limits: 43,388 feet (8.2 miles). Sheridan UBG to Amity UGB: 42, 556 feet (8.1 miles). Acreage: Sheridan City 1,273 Sheridan UGB 1,569 Willamina City 609 Willamina UGB 736 Amity City 384 Amity UGB 416 Information about distances and areas drawn by the COG from the Yamhill County GIS system on or about February 9, 2015 (see from Renata Wakeley, subject: FW Yamhill maps, Mon 2/9/2015 at 11:42 am), Costs for the application. COG quotes a cost for doing the application as $1,000 for completion of the application but also fees for attendance at meetings at $250/per meeting ( Renata Wakeley Thursday 2/5/2015 3:59 pm). Page 4 of 10

5 SHERIDAN - Total Assessed Valuation is $188,385,281 Assessor's Code Code 30.4 Code 48.0 AV in the Code = $6,033,677 $182,352,144 Yamhill County Yam Co Ext. Service Yam Co Soil & Water S.D. 30J - Willamina Willamina School bonds S.D. 48J - Sheridan Sheridan School bonds Willamette Regional ESD City of Sheridan Sheridan Fire District Chemeketa Library Chemeketa Comm College Chemeketa Comm College (bonds) Tax Rate = Percent of City's AV = 3.20% 96.80% WILLAMINA - Total Assessed Valuation is $82,373,828 Assessor's Code AV in the Code = $50,092,129 $32,280,699 Yamhill County Polk County Polk County Bonds Yam Co Ext. Service Yam Co Soil & Water S.D. 30J Willamina Willamina School Bonds Willamette Regional ESD Polk Soil and Water Extension District City of Willamina West Valley Fire West Valley Fire bonds Chemeketa Library Chemeketa Comm College Page 5 of 10

6 Chemeketa Comm College (bonds) Tax Rate = Percent of City's AV = 60.81% 39.19% The unique list of local taxing districts for both cities include: 1 Yamhill County 2 Polk County 3 Yam Co Ext. Service 4 Yam Co Soil & Water 5 S.D. 30J Willamina 6 S.D. 48J - Sheridan 7 Willamette Regional ESD 8 Polk Soil and Water 9 Polk Extension District 10 Sheridan Fire District 11 West Valley Fire District 12 Chemeketa Library 13 Chemeketa Comm College City of Willamina City of Sheridan Page 6 of 10

7 Model Notice To Local Taxing Districts For Proposed Enterprise Zone Designation and Public Meeting Invitation (see OAR ) [DATE] [Contact person, District/agency Address, etc.] Subject: Designation of the West Valley Enterprise Zone Dear : This letter is to inform you that the Cities of Willamina and Sheridan are seeking designation of the West Valley Enterprise Zone and would become the zone sponsor. The application deadline is April 10, Business Oregon (the Business Development Department) will review the application for designation, and it may be subject to competitive consideration relative to other localities. More information is available below. Your district is being notified of this application, because the enterprise zone as proposed would include all or parts of one or more tax code areas, in which your district levies taxes on property. In an enterprise zone, certain types of businesses that create new jobs may exemptions receive of limited duration on certain new property that they invest in the zone. In particular, we are asking yours and other local taxing districts to send one or more representatives to a special public meeting to discuss this application, address issues about the enterprise zone and achieve better understanding. At the meeting, there will be a map of the proposed zone boundary and other information for presentation and review. The meeting will be on Monday, March 16, 2015 at the Sheridan City Hall, 120 SW Mill Street, Sheridan, Oregon from 7 pm to about 8 pm. A preliminary agenda is enclosed. Besides, or in addition to, sending participants to this meeting, your district is welcome to submit written comments. For submitting comments or questions, contact: Frank Sheridan, City Manager, City of Sheridan at the above address or telephone The addresses are: fsheridan@wbcable.net or manager@cityofsheridanor.com. Resolutions At least seven days after this meeting, the sponsoring governments can adopt the requisite resolutions for seeking designation of the enterprise zone. The following are the anticipated times and dates for the consideration of these resolutions: April 6, 2015 by the City Council of Sheridan, and March 26, 2015 by the City Council of Willamina. Page 7 of 10

8 An Enterprise Zone Enterprise zones are discrete areas up to 12 or 15 square miles in size that are sponsored by one or more local governments. Various types are found throughout the world. Oregon s version has been in existence since the mid-1980s. Each zone designation lasts up to 11 years. State law permits up to 68 to exist now. They are intended to offer tax and other incentives to induce additional investment and employment by non retail businesses in areas meeting certain measures of economic hardship. They have proven to be Oregon s key offering in the pursuit of business growth and expansion. Their effectiveness is due to a typically short-term but immediate benefit for the business project s cash flow. Other general program information can be found at Oregon-Advantage/Incentives/Enterprise-Zones/. The proposed subject zone would consist of about square miles, with areas in, especially the underutilized or vacant industrial sites within the Cites of Sheridan and Willamina. Exemptions from Property Taxes An Oregon enterprise zone exempts only new property that an eligible business might build or install in the enterprise zone at some future time. A qualifying investment entails the creation new full time employment in the zone greater of one new job or a 10 percent increase. An enterprise zone exemption is temporary, usually lasting only three years, after which time the property induced by these incentives is available for assessment, possibly for decades. An extension of the exemption period to four or five years in total (or even longer under very special circumstances) is possible in some cases, subject to the agreement of the local governments sponsoring the zone, higher compensation for new employees and possibly additional local requirements. These property tax exemptions are not available to just any business. Most commercial or retail type operations are ineligible. Rather, the primary beneficiaries of enterprise zone benefits are manufacturing and other more industrially oriented facilities serving other businesses Policy and Economic Reasons for Seeking Enterprise Zone The cities of Sheridan and Willamina have decided to apply for enterprise zone designations to spur a revitalization of growth within the industrial zones in the respective cities. Both cities have vacant or underutilized industrial buildings and are looking for tools to encourage new owners or to assist current owners to expand their operations. Page 8 of 10

9 {More/good explanations???} Thank your for your consideration of the matter. If you have any questions you can call Frank Sheridan, City Manager for the City of Sheridan at or Mayor Ila Skyberg, City of Willamina at [Closing] Encl.: Preliminary Agenda Cc: Special Districts Association of Oregon Mayor Ila Skyberg, City of Willamina Page 9 of 10

10 Preliminary Agenda Public Meeting Re Application for Designation of Proposed West Valley Enterprise Zone Monday, March 16, 2015[Date] City of Sheridan City Hall 120 SW Mill Street Sheridan, Oregon pm Welcome & Introduction Review of Draft Map and Application Questions and Answers for Local Taxing Districts Recognition of Written Comments Statements by Taxing District Representatives Discussion of Major Issues Next Steps, Follow-up Consideration of Resolutions Adjourn Meeting on Enterprise Zone and Begin Regular City Council Meeting. Page 10 of 10