Friday, May 30, 2014

How Economic Revitalization Zones Work For You

Recently the town of Bedford looked at the Economic Revitalization Zones (ERZ) that are administered by the State of New Hampshire. This year the State’s largest city, Manchester, is looking at their ERZ foot print and seeing if expansion should be in the cards. 

The ERZ is a tax credit program that is administered by the State to help foster growth in areas that are in need of economic assistance. While the program is nothing new, it has been around for years, the word is just getting out. A simple example of how it can work would be that a company moves into a vacant building that is in an ERZ. They spend money to improve the building for their use as well as bring in new hires. 

Based on the improvement amount and the number of jobs created this potential company could get dollar for dollar credits at the state level. Because of the subtle details of the program it is not a linear function. Anyone who has a potential project should contact the Department of Resources and Economic Development to really understand if the project qualifies as well as the savings potential. This raises the important issue that the ERZs are lot specific. Just because you and your neighbor share the same zone as it relates to the town (Commercial, Industrial, Performance) does not mean you both share the same as it relates to ERZ. Only the state can verify if your lot is within a zone. 

As the City of Manchester looks to expand its use of the ERZ other towns and cities throughout the state may as well. It is a great tool as business owners look to expand and grow their businesses.

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