by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Ill-fated deals with large developers led the JEDC to overhaul its incentive policy. But the City Council is so far most concerned with how the new policy treats small businesses.
The new policy is the last step in a complete turnaround for the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, said Executive Director Ron Barton said Monday. But that last step requires Council approval. To win it, Barton will likely have to address concerns that the new incentive policy neglects small businesses.
Several Council members voiced those concerns at a Monday City Hall workshop on the new policy. Member Mia Jones has spoken at JEDC general meetings about the difficulties facing small businesses, particularly in neighborhoods without adequate infrastructure like some in her west Jacksonville district. Jones wants to see more help for entrepreneurs in those neighborhoods before she votes for the policy.
“From the standpoint of people who have grown up in these communities and invested in them, they look at the JEDC paying incentives to companies from out of town to come in here,” she said following the meeting. “And they look at it like, ‘We get no incentive to stay here and try to build up these neighborhoods.’”
Jones backed an idea from Council member Suzanne Jenkins, whose district includes part of Downtown. Jenkins said small business owners have little incentive to improve their places of business.
Capital improvements are usually immediately followed with an increased tax assessment, she said. Jenkins suggested small business tax breaks similar to the large-scale incentives used to lure large companies to Jacksonville.
Jones liked the idea. She said small business owners who improve their buildings could be given a grace period of 3-5 years before the tax assessment rises.
Barton defended the JEDC’s current small business policies. He noted that helping small businesses is one of the commission’s formal priorities and pointed out that the current policy gives preference to small businesses in evaluating eligibility for incentives. Existing programs help provide infrastructure support and reward investment into poor areas, he said.
Council member Pat Lockett-Felder, whose district extends from Downtown into northeast Jacksonville, wasn’t convinced. Small businesses in poor neighborhoods need more help, she said.
“If a business opens in San Marco and a business opens on A. Phillip Randolph, the chances of survival in San Marco are much greater,” she said. “Maybe I need a one-on-one thing, because you all are not reaching me with this.”
Barton cautioned the Council against pitting big business against small business in its consideration of the policy. Incentives to large companies like Fidelity or Merrill Lynch indirectly help small businesses by creating consumers, he said.
By bringing high-wage jobs to the area, the JEDC was helping create demand for restaurants, dry cleaners and other service-oriented businesses, he said.
“High discretionary income is going to be paid back into the community,” said Barton. “The best thing we can do for small businesses is to create consumers.”
Barton bristled a bit at the mention of the small business community’s “frustration” with the lack of help from the JEDC.
“It’s ironic to say that small businesses are frustrated when we have tools other cities don’t use. Most cities put zero into small business investment. If those small businesses were in other cities they’d get nothing,” he said.
Supporting small businesses requires the JEDC to balance its commitment to economic development with a commitment to spend tax dollars wisely, said Barton. Incentives should only be made available to small businesses with a chance to succeed, he said.
“If we invest in a business that’s not prepared to be successful and that business goes out of business, the return to taxpayers is minimal,” he said.
The new policy calls for small business owners seeking incentives to first display adequate business acumen. Those without it will be directed to small business training resources.
“We don’t want to enable a small business to be unsuccessful,” he said. “If you don’t have the necessary skill sets, let’s get you to the people who will teach you and then you come back.”
Barton urged the Council members several times to get the approval process moving. It’s better to put the policy to work and fix problems than to carry out a lengthy debate on what might or might not work, he said.
But after the meeting, Barton still wasn’t sure when the Council would take up the legislation.
“We haven’t heard much about that,” he said.