I am writing today to support the Ad Valorem Tax Exemption (AVT) that will appear on our November ballots. Passage of this would extend the county’s 30-year use of this tool to bring and keep attractive businesses right here in our backyard. This 10-year renewal of the existing, very successful 30-year program will continue to attract future businesses to our very special county.
I think most people would agree that good companies offering good jobs is a great foundation for a good and strong economy. So that raises a question. How do we, in Brevard County, compete with cities and counties all across our nation that have the same goal? Of course, you might say that having beautiful beaches, palm trees, and warm winter temperatures certainly gives us an advantage over a lot of areas north of us. If you believe that you would be correct, to some extent. However, those attributes alone don’t give us an advantage over any of our neighbors herein Florida. Then you might add the fact that we have Kennedy Space Center and Port Canaveral which are certainly a draw for good companies.
I submit that another arrow in our quiver to attract good companies is theAd Valorem Tax Exemption. An Ad Valorem is by definition “according to value”. Ad valorem taxes are based on the assessed value of a property. Because of the AVT exemption program that was first passed by you the voters by wide margins in 1994and again in 2004 and 2014 Brevard has been able to attract a wide range of good solid companies that may have gone elsewhere had we not been able to offer the incentive of AVT. We can see the effectiveness of the AVT program with such companies as Embraer Executive Jets and Roswell Global. They have met or exceeded their respective job creation milestonesto date.
Our community benefits because the people hired, due to a new company coming here or an existing company expanding their operations, spend their money benefiting the local economy, buying homes, cars, groceries and supporting other businesses. The AVT tax exemption program on the ballot this November in Brevard County and in the cities of Cocoa and Titusville can offer incentives to attract and retain top-quality businesses that create high wage jobs.
I am going to point out that some techniques and incentives that are used to lure employers and companies to a county or city can be controversial. Our AVT is not one of those. The Brevard County Ad Valorem Tax Abatement Program is an economic incentive program that offers partial tax relief to eligible businesses only with the purpose of encouraging new investments and job creation within the county.
As an eight-year County Commissioner I saw first-hand the value of our AVT program. Zero money is given away. All decisions are in the hands of your elected County Commissioners. Any participating company in our AVT program, relocating or expanding to the Space Coast, must meet tough qualifications first. Then, and I cannot stress this enough, it MUST earn its benefits by meeting the requirements set by the County Commission before it receives ANY tax discount.History shows that for every dollar in taxes temporarily set aside under this program, about five times that amount COMES BACK to the county in the form of non-abated taxes that the eligible companies pay for schools, special districts, and other assessments. In addition to the aforementioned fact that additional monies come back to the county in the form of more money being spent in our economy by the new employees that were added by the benefiting AVT companies. It is truly a WIN/WIN!
In conclusion, without this tax exemption, Florida’s Space Coast simply cannot compete for business relocations and expansions against other cities and counties across our country. We are competing against every other city and county across this great nation of ours. In order for us to remain competitive and to continue to build on our diverse and heathy economy we must ensure that this incentive program is clearly understood and remains an active part of our economic development tool.
A highly trained workforce is our most valuable asset and without good jobs, we will lose that asset. Let your vote count to renew this tremendously useful program. (Voters in Cocoa and in Titusville, your “YES” vote on the same ballot will also keep jobs in your town as well).
Curt Smith is a former Brevard County Commissioner for District 4
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: The Ad Valorem Tax Exemption is needed to attract business in Brevard
