TexAmericas Center now offers Texas Enterprise Zone incentives, allowing companies adding or retaining jobs to potentially qualify for benefits like state sales tax refunds and tax abatements.
Officials hail the Enterprise Zone designation as a "helpful tool to TexAmerica Center's job-creating toolbox."
"TexAmericas Center is proud and honored to be authorized to work with Bowie County to offer this powerful business and job creation incentive. We are excited to grow our partnership with the State of Texas and Bowie County," said Scott Norton, Executive Director/CEO of TexAmericas Center.
Bowie County officials must nominate a company as an Enterprise project for it to participate in the newly designated Enterprise Zone Program.
Once a business is approved by the state for benefits, it becomes known as an Enterprise Zone project. Designated projects are eligible to apply for state sales and use tax refunds on qualifying expenditures, which include all taxable items purchased for use at the business site and related to the project, according to a TexAmericas press release. Refund amounts correlate to the amount of capital invested and number of jobs created.
An additional requirement to become an Enterprise Zone project is local community support through incentives such as tax abatement, tax increment financing and one-stop permitting. The state of Texas mandates that 25% of an Enterprise Zone project's employment meet economically disadvantaged status or Enterprise Zone residency requirements.
TexAmericas Center can designate six projects every two years each for up to a five-year period, not including the 90-day window prior to the application deadline. Employment and capital investment commitments must be incurred and met within this timeframe.
The state accepts applications quarterly with deadlines on the first business day of March, June, September and December.
"Our ability to offer this statewide economic development program, known as the Texas Enterprise Zone Program, right in here in Bowie County is going to allow us to create quality jobs and bring greater economic opportunity for everyone in the Texarkana region," Norton stated in the press release.