Attraction of new industry through private investment is Phillips top priority
DECATUR – Surrounded by supporters and interested citizens, Decatur mayoral candidate John Phillips outlined a plan to spur economic growth in Decatur by leveraging existing assets and developing new partnerships to attract businesses and jobs to the city.
Phillips’ plan focuses on the general concept of attracting companies that already do business in Decatur and offer incentives based on the size of a company’s potential economic footprint by building new operations here.
“These ideas we’ve put together here are the result of long conversations with community leaders, residents and organizations and include concepts that have worked in other cities with similar population, demographics and geography,” said Phillips.
The Phillips three-pronged plan would be developed at little to no cost to Decatur taxpayers and funded through private investment dollars. The plan includes:
- Option between 1500-2000 acres of land that would be developed into an industrial park and annex any outlying acreage into the city. Optioning the land, rather than buying it allows for little upfront costs while still securing the acreage as potential businesses are developed.
- Allow the city to provide general infrastructure on the site which would include storm and sanitary sewage and water lines.
- Develop an agreement with all property taxing bodies to abate property taxes for businesses who develop at the industrial park for up to 10 years depending on the size of its economic value to Decatur.
- The park would be broken up into several business development sites that would be offered with tax and enterprise zone relief for a number of years depending on jobs and new construction spending. It will be marketed to suppliers and customers of existing Decatur businesses and anyone that can take advantage of the new Midwest Inland Port.
“This is a true incentive based economic development concept. The larger the build and the more jobs created by a project means longer tax abatement and less land and infrastructure costs that have to be absorbed by the company,” added Phillips.
Once development of the industrial park is underway, the project could create nearly 100 new jobs per year in addition to 50-75 construction jobs annually. The project would be managed by a group of organizations that have true economic development expertise and relationships along with strong knowledge of Decatur.
For more information about Phillips or his campaign, visit www.johnphillipsfordecatur.com