Economic Incentives

Shaw Industries

The stability of McDuffie County's strong economic infrastructure is driven by the diversity of its industries, the presence of five major banks and our ability to serve as a retail hub for the rural counties to the west. In fact, the University of Georiga consistently ranks McDuffie County in the top five counties of Georgia in its ability to pull in sales dollars. Forty cents of every sales tax dollar comes from non-residents.

McDuffie County and the State of Georgia offer a wide array of incentives to expanding, existing industries as well as new sites or start-ups locating in our state. Here are brief descriptions of some of the most popular, along with web addresses for more information.

Please contact Mike Carrington at the local development authority if you need assistance with business incentives.

Quick Start
Quick Start, the Georgia Department of Educations innovative employee training program, offers exceptional benefits to new and expanding companies without charge:

• Time and money saved during the crucial start-up period
• Employees who know their work and what is expected of them
• Lower labor turnover rates
• Higher productivity

Contact the Development Authority at (706) 597-1000 or visit:

www.georgiaquickstart.org/quickstart/menu.html

OneGeorgia
The OneGeorgia Authority, created by the Governor and the Legislature, uses one third of the state's tobacco settlement to assist the state's most economically challenged areas. One-hundred-and-six-billion dollars are anticipated to be available over the 25-year term of the settlement. OneGeorgia investments will be targeted towards rural communities. As one of Georgia's rural counties, McDuffie County is able to take advantage of OneGeorgia funds with qualifying projects. Local examples of using this grant money are a new airport terminal at Thomson-McDuffie Regional Airport and our new industrial development, Stone Industrial Park.

Details including contact information can be found at www.onegeorgia.org.

Job Tax Credits
This state incentive provides for job tax credits for a business or headquarters of a business engaged in manufacturing, warehousing/distribution, processing, telecommunications, tourism, and research and development industries. However, job tax credits are available to any business of any nature including retail businesses in Tier 2 counties recognized and designate as the 71 least developed counties (effective January 2008).

McDuffie County is a Tier 2 county that qualifies industrial expansions for a $4,000 per employee tax credit under Georgia's tax incentive program. A minimum of five new employees to quality for this incentive is required.

For more information, visit:

www.georgia.org/Business/Development+Incentives.htm.

Tax Exemptions
Sales and use tax exemptions are available for a wide range of industries in Georgia. McDuffie County is one of the counties in our state that exempts up to 100 percent of manufacturers' inventory under the local Freeport law. Warehouse inventories are exempt from property taxes if the inventory is destined to be shipped out of state. If you have additional questions, please contact us.

Employment Incentive Program Loans (EIP)
With Employment Incentive Program loans, you may qualify for a loan of up to $500,000 at a low rate. Of course, the main stipulation is that you have created jobs in our community. This federal money is administered by the States Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and must be loaned through a local city or county government. Visit DCA at www.dca.state.ga.us/.

Our county and city governments have been quite aggressive in pursuing these revolving types of loans. They can make a big difference financially to a company adding jobs or locating here for a start-up. Though state benefits typically are available through any qualifying county, we have quite a track record in applying for and being successful in receiving these types of funds.

Benefits

• Up to $500,000 loans are available for fixed asset gap financing.
• Save money through rates that are typically lower than market.

Terms are generally longer than conventional loans. For example, loans on equipment that has a useful life of seven years can be extended for the full seven years of useful life rather than five years as would be common with conventional loans.

The funds are paid back to the local government and stay here to continue to create economic opportunity.

Counties and cities that have established loan funds are well ahead of those that don't and can offer much more for businesses or industries looking to locate in our part of the State

For more information from the Department of Community Affairs on the EIP program, visit:

www.dca.state.ga.us/economic/financing/programs/
employmentincentive.asp

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