WALTHALL - County leaders took steps last week to further entice an industrial prospect to locate here through an array of financial incentives.
Part of this will be through a resolution adopted by the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 1 consenting to the designation of Webster County as a participant in the Growth and Prosperity program. The GAP program, administered by the Mississippi Development Authority, offers incentives to companies that locate or expand in economically challenged counties.
Supervisors said this action was taken primarily in anticipation of a company relocating to the vacant Red Kap building in Mathiston but also to encourage future economic growth.
Any county in Mississippi which has an unemployment rate that is at least double the state's unemployment rate or in which 30 percent or more of the population is at or below the federal poverty level for any year since 2000 may apply to the MDA for the issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity designating it as a GAP county.
MDA-approved business enterprises in GAP counties will receive up to a 10-year ad valorem tax exemption, except school taxes. If the business is in a municipality in the county and the municipality consents, the businesses will also be exempt from all local ad valorem taxes levied by the municipality, except school taxes.
The approved business must enter into an agreement with the MDA setting out performance requirements and provisions for the recapture of all or a portion of the taxes exempted if the performance requirements for the business are not met, according to MDA information.
Supervisors approved the resolution after a presentation by Steve Anderson, then-executive director of the Webster County Development Council.
Anderson, in his monthly report of WCDC activities, reported that the company being recruited makes military uniforms and plans to eventually employ 350-400 people. He also said a few more details need to be worked out to finalize the deal, but that no one anticipates any problems. A contract for the purchase of the building is under review by the prospects and should be signed this week, he wrote. Company officials have already made three site visits.
Anderson and Phyllis Benson of the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District discussed another incentive program with the board on Nov. 1. This involved a proposal to make a community development loan to the company. Supervisors took no action that day regarding the proposal but recessed until Nov. 2 to continue discussions with Anderson and Gerald Mills, regional MDA director. Anderson asked Mills to meet with the board to explain the process in detail.
After they provided specifics of the program, the board voted to pursue a $250,000 loan from MDA to the business and directed the GTPDD to commence pursing the loan on behalf of the county.
Mills said the company did not request the loan, which would go toward purchase of the building, but that MDA is offering it as an incentive for it to locate here. He indicated that the company would also be applying for a line of credit through Tennessee Valley Authority and bank financing, with many safeguards in place.
"This is a win-win situation for everybody," Mills said.
The county will receive a corporate and personal guaranty on the loan in case of default by the company. Mills said "due diligence" is required by a governmental entity to collect a loan if a company does default but that MDA has never made a city or county repay a loan.
In a worst-case scenario, he told the supervisors, "You would have a spec building sitting there."
Mills said the company will undergo a credit analysis during an application process of two to three months and that a public hearing will be required on the proposed loan application. According to the discussion, the loan would be for a maximum of seven years after a nine-month moratorium with interest locked in at 3 percent.
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