OAR 123-674-0600: Compensation & Wage Standards

For purposes of ORS 285C.160 and a qualified business firm subject to a written agreement described in OAR 123-674-0700: (1) In order for the firm to receive the additional one or two years of exemption on qualified property inside any enterprise zone not excluded by OAR 123-674-0500(5): (a) Wages received on average must equal or exceed the Current County Wage, but only: (A) During the additional one or two years; and (B) If the agreement was executed on or after October 6, 2017; and (b) During each year throughout the exemption’s first three years and the additional one or two years, average compensation must equal or exceed: (A) 150 percent of the Established County Wage; or (B) 130 percent of the Established County Wage, if: (i) The agreement is executed on or after October 6, 2017; and (ii) When it is executed, any part of the zone is inside a qualified rural county under ORS 285C.050(17). (2) The compensation requirement in subsection (1)(b) of this rule applies only to ‘new employees hired by the firm’ as defined under ORS 285C.050(13). That definition is also used here for the requirement of wages received in subsection (1)(a) of this rule, for the sake of convenience, such that both requirements are satisfied by averaging only across “affected employees,” which encompass jobs, positions or persons: (a) Included as part of ‘employment of the firm’ according to OAR 123-065-0200; (b) Created, filled and hired for the first time: (A) After the date of Application under ORS 285C.140(1), even if an individual filling the job is already employed by the eligible business firm in another position that is refilled within the zone; and (B) On or before December 31 at the end of the initial, first exemption year; and (c) For which calculation of their average annual compensation or wages received may include the regular yearly compensation or wages (excluding bonuses or the like) of an applicable position that is temporarily vacant due to unforeseen circumstances for not more than 90 days at any time during the year. (3) As used in this rule: (a) “Compensation” includes total calendar-year remuneration (whether taxable or not) for all affected employees in the form of wages, salary, overtime pay, shift differential, profit-sharing, bonuses, commissions, paid vacation, and associated fringe or financial benefits such as life insurance, medical coverage and retirement plans, but excluding: (A) Free meals, club membership or comparable workplace amenities; (B) Payroll-based tax or cost mandated by federal, state or local law, such as worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance or the employer’s share under FICA; and (C) Gratuities or tips, other than what is anyways part of wages received for purposes of employee withholding. (b) “Wages received” are total taxable income paid to all affected employees and used in calculating amounts withheld or otherwise applicable under ORS chapter 316 for purposes of Oregon personal income taxes of any such person during the calendar year. (4) As used in ORS 285C.050(17) and in identifying qualified rural counties: (a) “County … outside all metropolitan statistical areas” means an Oregon county other than Benton, Clackamas, Columbia, Deschutes, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington or Yamhill County, or any combination of those counties. (b) “[T]otal property taxes imposed by all taxing districts within the county are equal to or greater than 1.3 percent of the total assessed value of all taxable property located in the county” is true if the quotient of the respective amounts from the Department of Revenue’s most recently published Oregon Property Tax Statistics (150-303-405) is equal to or greater than 0.013 rounded to the nearest one-thousandth. Those amounts shall be updated as feasible and necessary using more current tax year documentation of the county (excluding urban renewal from the tax figure).