The local development agency is empowered by the state to grant incentives in property, sales, and mortgage recording taxes to drive desired economic growth.
The agency last updated its uniform tax exemption policy in 2019.
“The world has changed dramatically since then, and some industry sectors—such as warehousing—no longer present as fruitful and long-term opportunities for our county and residents,” Orange County IDA CEO Bill Fioravanti told The Epoch Times.
“What we are looking to do is to reset our priorities and use our tools to attract the kind of companies and industry sectors that we think will be most impactful to Orange County.”
According to proposed policy changes, high-tech manufacturing companies—such as those that make semiconductor devices or advanced pharmaceuticals and supply upstream materials to such manufacturers—are eligible for an additional five years of property tax abatements from IDA beyond what is provided to standard industries.
The same goes for housing developments that offer the desired number of affordable units: Either 20 percent of all units goes to tenants earning at or below 80 percent of the area median income, or 10 percent goes to those making less than 60 percent of the median income.
“There is a significant housing crisis, and we believe that we need to do our part in addressing it, not only for the ill effects of the crisis in its own right but also for its impediments to the economic development in our county,” Fioravanti said.
“You need to have workers in proximity to fill job positions, and when people cannot afford to live here, it is an impediment to us attracting specific companies to the area.”
Tourism and professional services projects are also included in the list of priority industries.
In addition, projects that redevelop properties in a historic area or brownfield site qualify for extra tax benefits, as do those that create at least 100 quality full-time jobs.
Fioravanti told The Epoch Times that the proposed policy changes are part of his administration’s overall plan to refocus the agency on its core mission of economic development, especially in attracting impactful and sustainable industries to Orange County.
“We’ve been working for almost a year to revise the policy and land on the priorities,” he said.
The deadline for submission of written comments on policy changes is 5 p.m. on Feb. 19. The IDA board is expected to vote on the new policy on the same day.
IDA hosted a public hearing on the proposed policy on Jan. 28, but there were no commenters.
The seven-member IDA board also was reshuffled as a result. It now consists of Chairman Jeffrey Crist, Vice Chairman Dean Tamburri, Secretary Vincent Odock, and members Susan Walski, Marc Greene, Giovanni Palladino, and Linda Muller, who all work as volunteers.
