Dwight Bramble believes that the new business incentive program for the City of Estevan is unprecedented for the community.
Estevan city council approved the incentives plan during Monday night’s council meeting. Bramble, who is wrapping up his first year as the city’s economic development co-ordinator, expects the incentives will play an important role in bringing new businesses to the community, while retaining those already in place.
“I believe it will go a long ways in really instilling confidence, not only in the existing businesses, but in the prospective businesses who want to come to Estevan,” said Bramble.
The plan has three key components. The first is that any new or existing business that constructs a new location within city limits can receive a property tax exemption for the next three years.
Those operating within the city’s five priority investment areas – agri-value or processing, greenhouse technology, manufacturing, warehousing, and geothermal and other renewable energy sources – can receive a five-year property tax exemption.
“This exemption applies to permanent new buildings or facility development, and is not applicable to building renovations, expansions or taxes levied on lands,” said Mayor Roy Ludwig while reading off the report during Monday’s meeting.
Bramble said three years was selected as the length for the exemption because it usually takes three years for a business to establish itself and see meaningful results.
“We just wanted to give them that time and give them that support,” said Bramble.
Another key concept is a commercial property within city limits that has undergone storefront façade and other improvements, including parking lot paving, can receive a property tax exemption equivalent to 25 per cent of the costs of the improvement, or $15,000, whichever is the lower amount.
The exemption would be applied the calendar year after the improvement has been completed, and will be spread over three years.
“The objective of that is to really spruce up the city, and … improve the appearance of the city, particularly the business community, which of course would be attractive to new and prospective businesses as well,” said Bramble.
Parking lots were added to the document during Monday’s meeting, a move that was warmly received by council.
“I think the addition of the parking lots in this is very good, because parking lots in a lot of businesses could use some improvements, and it’s also very costly to do so,” said Councillor Shelly Veroba.
Finally, the city will partner with community foundations, business enterprise centres, Community Futures Development Corporations and other entities to identify and support business retention and transition opportunities. The city will support a business incubator to provide business support and services.
“The city would not be running it per say, but the city would support it,” said Bramble. “The details of that support have not been determined yet.”
Councillor Travis Frank also applauded the new incentives program and how they could stimulate growth in the community.
Bramble believes the business incentives program can improve the quality of life in Estevan by stimulating development and making it an attractive place.
“The focus is on providing a very clear and enhanced plan for economic development for community groups,” said Bramble.
The business incentives plan required a lot of research and time, Bramble said. Draft recommendations were presented to the economic development board, and then the final version was presented to Estevan city council.
Bramble started working on it several months ago, prior to SaskPower’s July announcement that it would eventually retire Units 4 and 5 at the Boundary Dam Power Station. SaskPower’s decision has caused a lot of uncertainty in the community.
“One of the things that I have been proposing since I came as the economic development co-ordinator – and city council and the economic development board have adopted the same approach and mindset – is we have to diversify the economy of Estevan,” said Bramble.
It means creating other choices and opportunities to enhance growth in the city.
“We don’t have any time to wait as far as trying to fast-track an improvement of the business environment here so that we can attract businesses, and we can continue to support the ones which are already here,” said Bramble.
Bramble doesn’t know of any business incentives that have been in place like this in the past. There was the CANDO incentives program that was introduced in 2005 and was in place during the economic boom years. It provided incentives for the construction of new residential and commercial buildings.
But there hasn’t been an incentive program that was geared towards businesses.
“They are unprecedented, as far as I know,” said Bramble. “There has never been anything like this in Estevan before.”
While there isn’t anything in this document for residential construction, Bramble said that could change in the future.
“Our focus at the moment is the business sector, because we feel that we need to prioritize business growth and business stimulation,” he said.
Bramble believes the city can create the environment to attract and support businesses, but it’s up to the investors and the businesses to make the decision on whether to locate and operate in Estevan.
He believes council and the economic development board are doing a good job of creating a healthy environment for business investment.
These business incentives represent a good start, he said, and he expects more incentives will be added in the future.
Bramble said he is also going to embark on a publicity campaign to let prospective businesses and local residents alike know what the city is doing to boost the business environment and enhance economic growth.
