OAR 123-668-1300: Enhanced Public Services and Other Local Incentives

For purposes of ORS 285C.105(1)(b) and local incentives that an enterprise zone sponsor or cosponsor elects by policy to provide to authorized business firms qualifying for the standard property tax exemption (OAR 123-674) within its jurisdiction or service territory: (1) Such local incentives include but are not limited to: (a) Enhanced availability or efficiency of local public services, such as utilities, transportation access and public safety protection; (b) Waivers, discounts or credits from local fees, charges, business/license taxes and so forth; or (c) Regulatory flexibility, expedited/simplified permitting, special zoning designations, exceptions from ordinances, or the like that do not significantly undermine regulations pertaining to health and safety. (2) Unless clearly stipulated in the sponsor’s policy as discretionary, any such incentive is binding on that sponsoring government and must be implemented (for example, by ordinance as necessary) and made regularly available to any business firm that makes application for authorization on or after the effective date that the co/sponsor adopted its policy to provide the incentive. An incentive’s status as binding in the enterprise zone for purposes of this rule is not altered by its being generally offered or available to other (non‑enterprise zone) business firms within the sponsor’s jurisdiction or service territory. (3) With respect to any such binding incentive but not necessarily one that is discretionary: (a) It shall be available or provided to any authorized or qualified business firm on an equal basis within that portion of the enterprise zone exclusive to the relevant jurisdiction or service territory of the respective cosponsor, except that a city or county cosponsor may formally differentiate the incentives available to authorized business firms operated as a hotel, motel or destination resort. (b) The zone sponsor shall actively help such firms to understand, access and use any such incentive. (c) The Department may recognize it in the context of benefits customarily associated with the enterprise zone for purposes of generally promoting the zone. (d) By virtue of the sponsoring government’s policy for further inducing authorized or qualified business firms at locations inside the enterprise zone under ORS 285C.105(1)(b): Relative exceptions or variance from the normal provision of services, charging of fees, imposition of regulations, etc. are operative within the zone. In contrast, any discretionary incentive (even if exclusively for qualified business firms in the zone) needs to conform to applicable state or local laws, charters, ordinances or conventions for the affected charge, fee, service, regulation, etc. (4) For purposes of a zone sponsor’s putting forward one or more new incentives to replace an incentive or incentives that are binding according to this rule, in order to avoid termination of the zone under ORS 285C.245(3)(b)(A): (a) “Comparable value” means that the new incentives or incentives, as a whole, need to provide not only an equivalent level of direct financial benefit to business firms, but also exhibit similarity in terms of other factors such as convenience. (b) In determining whether “reasonable corrections of shortcomings in existing local incentives” are being made, the Department may consider the extent to which an existing incentive inordinately: (A) Benefits some or all authorized or qualified firms; or (B) Burdens local budgetary resources or utility capacity. (5) A local incentive offered or binding in a cosponsor’s jurisdiction or territory has no bearing on the incentives: (a) Of any other cosponsor in the same zone; or (b) That the jurisdiction may offer in another enterprise zone that it also sponsors.