Pharmaceutical giant Merck has notified City Manager Spencer Cronk that it is terminating its incentive agreement with the city effective June 23. As a result, Merck will not have to comply with the terms of the agreement, which included an investment of nearly $29 million and the creation of at least 600 jobs with an […]
Economic Development Incentives
This is shorthand for a series of programs designed to lure business to a given region. In Austin, the program tends to take some form of tax-based incentives. These can include rebates or grants that are often tied to a set of stipulations. These tend to include local hiring goals, same-sex partner benefits, or, more recently, wage floors for construction workers who build facilities for the incoming organizations.
Posted inCity Council
Council wants to look at 380 agreements again
A $165,000 economic development agreement between the city of Austin and Austin Community College to help the college provide and maintain what is described as “leading edge” technology equipment for ACC’s fashion incubator could be an early casualty of Council’s drive to save money in the face of the legislatively mandated 3.5 percent revenue caps. […]
Posted inAustin
Incentives or no, Amazon growing in Austin after nixing New York
The announcement Thursday that Amazon is canceling its planned HQ2 facility in Queens, New York, confirmed what many business and policy watchers in Austin have predicted: In the coming years Austin will see a slice of the 25,000 planned jobs that were supposedly headed to the HQ2 site. The company said Thursday that it has […]
Posted inCity Council
Council approves plan to revamp incentives, with small businesses in mind
City Council voted Thursday to approve the framework for a restructuring of the city’s economic incentives programs, with the goal of increasing small business growth and improving job opportunities for lower-wage and middle-skill workers. The 9-1 vote saw Council Member Ellen Troxclair object, with Council Member Alison Alter absent, to the package of three resolutions. […]
Posted inAustin
Council considers which strings to attach to corporate incentives
After postponing action earlier this month, on Thursday City Council will again consider establishing new rules regarding economic incentives for businesses. Council members plan on considering a number of amendments to the proposal aimed at ensuring that public dollars are only used to support good corporate citizens. The proposed new policy seeks to refocus city […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council seeks to steer incentives from big business to local business
In Austin, the city’s practice of providing financial incentives for companies to relocate or move operations here has garnered plenty of criticism, ranging from outright opposition to the practice to concerns about whether the incentives are leading to jobs for those most in need and whether the city is favoring large international corporations over local […]
Posted inCity Council
Changes proposed for Chapter 380 agreements
During Tuesday’s City Council work session, David Colligan, the manager of global business expansion in the Economic Development Department, and economist Jon Hockenyos presented an outline of their plans to revamp the city’s incentive policy for recruiting businesses under the state law known as Chapter 380. The biggest changes – as dictated by a Council resolution […]
Posted inAustin
Austin’s creative culture holds weight in economic incentives revision
In response to City Council direction in March, Austin’s Economic Development Department has spent the better part of the year meeting with specific groups in the community that have a stake in how the city approaches policies such as business recruitment, real estate planning and business incentives packages in the coming years. In an effort […]
Posted inAustin
Economic development sessions to target middle-class jobs, local business growth
A focus on middle-class job growth, workforce development and growing existing businesses are some of the priorities the city’s business boosters will emphasize this week during a series of community meetings intended to shape local economic development policies. The seven meetings from June 5-8 will each be directed toward a specific group – small business, […]
Posted inCity Council
City approves Merck incentives, waits for decision on IT hub
Austin will provide up to $856,000 in economic incentives to pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme if the company chooses Austin as the site for a proposed information technology hub. By a 7-3-1 vote, City Council approved a Chapter 380 agreement that will pay the company $85,600 a year through 2026 – based on $200 […]
Posted inCity Council
Pharma giant’s proposed incentives draw questions in first review
City Council members have tended away from using incentives packages in recent years, averaging one approval per year to lure large employers to the area. Based on questioning and feedback from an initial discussion last week, it appears that 2017’s approval could go toward a proposed information technology hub for the pharmaceutical and biosciences giant […]
Posted inBudget
Adler: Business incentives shouldn’t be ‘bad word’
In a booming city with an unemployment rate south of 3 percent, it’s not surprising that people might be skeptical of spending taxpayer dollars to lure more jobs into town. In a recent survey of Austinites about city spending priorities, business recruitment was the city program for which by far the greatest number of respondents […]