For our area to compete, we must understand our competition and position ourselves at least in line with other communities. When companies evaluate our area against others, they are comparing a variety of factors, from the availability of a skilled work force, to the cost of doing business, to how easy it is to navigate processes such as building permits, annexation, zoning and incentives.
One area where we don't currently measure up with our competition is related to incentives, or more specifically our tax abatement policy. Tax abatement is typically not the deciding factor when a company is considering an area, but it certainly is one of the factors that keeps us in the mix during the decision-making process.
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Different guidelines currently exist in South Bend, Mishawaka and St. Joseph County. The ordinances in South Bend (48 pages) and the county (36 pages) are lengthy and give companies the impression it is complicated to do business here.
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Put simply -- if we believe we should abate real estate taxes for a set period in order to encourage new investment, then we need to decide how to structure a more efficient tax abatement policy.
A change in the local ordinances would help us appear to be less complicated, and it would make the abatement process simpler and more nimble. Decisions would be left up to our elected officials to decide on a case-by-case basis, based upon the merit of the project. Officials would have more control, not less.
We all agree economic development is important. We know there is great competition out there for newjobs and capital investment, and we've watched as other areas in Indiana enjoy great success.
We haven't seen the kind of success we'd like to see here in St. Joseph County. A change in the local ordinance is an easy step to begin that turnaround.
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