1. A business which is or will be located in an enterprise zone is eligible to receive incentives and assistance under this division if the business has not closed or reduced its operation in one area of the state and relocated substantially the same operation into the enterprise zone and if the business meets all of the following:
a. Is not a retail business.
b. Pays at least eighty percent of the cost of a standard medical and dental insurance plan for all full-time employees.
c. Pays an average wage that is at or greater than ninety percent of the lesser of the average county wage or average regional wage, as determined by the department. However, the wage paid by the business shall not be less than seven dollars and fifty cents per hour.
d. Creates at least ten full-time positions and maintains them for at least ten years. For an existing business in counties with a population of ten thousand or less, the commission may adopt a provision that allows the business to create at least five initial jobs with the additional jobs to be added in five years. The business shall include in its strategic plan the timeline for job creation. If the existing business fails to meet the ten-job creation requirement within the five-year period, all incentives or assistance will cease immediately.
e. Makes a capital investment of at least five hundred thousand dollars. If the business will be occupying a vacant building suitable for industrial use, the fair market value of the building and land, not to exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars, shall be counted toward the capital investment requirement. An existing business that has been operating in the enterprise zone for at least five years is exempt from the capital investment requirement of this paragraph of up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars of the fair market value, as established by an appraisal, of the building and land.
2. In addition to meeting the requirements under subsection 1, an eligible business shall provide the enterprise zone commission with all of the following:
a. The long-term strategic plan for the business which shall include labor and infrastructure needs.
b. Information dealing with the benefits the business will bring to the area.
c. Examples of why the business should be considered or would be considered a good business enterprise.
d. The impact the business will have on other businesses in competition with it.
e. An affidavit that it has not, within the last five years, violated state or federal environmental and worker safety statutes, rules, and regulations or if such violation has occurred that there were mitigating circumstances or such violations did not seriously affect public health or safety or the environment.
3. If a business has received incentives or assistance under section 15E.196 and fails to maintain the requirements of subsection 1 to be an eligible business, the business is subject to repayment of all or a portion of the incentives and assistance that it has received. The city or county, as applicable, shall have the authority to take action to recover the value of taxes not collected as a result of the exemption provided by the community to the business. The department of revenue and finance shall have the authority to recover the value of state taxes or incentives provided under section 15E.196. The value of state incentives provided under section 15E.196 includes applicable interest and penalties. The department of economic development and the city and county, as applicable, shall enter into agreement with the business specifying the method for determining the amount of incentives or assistance paid which will be repaid in the event of failure to maintain the requirements of subsection 1. In addition, a business that fails to maintain the requirements of subsection 1 shall not receive incentives or assistance for each year during which the business is not in compliance.
97 Acts, ch 144, §3
Referred to in § 15E.195
© 1998 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa
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