news-record.com

Support remains among a majority of Guilford County commissioners for a $1.3 million incentives policy, but Guilford County’s small businesses must wait.

A proposed policy aimed at small businesses was delayed at the commissioners meeting Thursday after a lengthy discussion on its fairness and legality.

“It’s not going to hurt anything to wait a couple of weeks,” said Commissioner Mike Winstead, who until Thursday had pushed getting the policy passed quickly.

The county currently has a policy that offers incentives for businesses — typically larger companies — that meet hiring and investment requirements.

The additional policy, supporters say, makes similar tax incentives available to smaller businesses.

In both policies, incentives are only paid after an investment is made or over a series of years.

Even as the discussion on the new policy was tabled, more tweaks were suggested, including:

• An information sheet about companies making property improvements up to $10 million.
• Adding job requirements for companies making improvements greater than $10 million.

The county has also sent a copy of the policy to the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office for its review.

Commissioners will discuss the next version of the policy on Oct. 1. Commissioners Kirk Perkins and Billy Yow, who both oppose the policy, voted against tabling the discussion in a 9-2 vote.

“If the business needs to grow, that means that they’re making a profit,” Yow said, adding he’d prefer a tax break for all county taxpayers instead.

“I would really like to see the people come out and speak very hard against economic incentives, period.”

One member of the public, attorney Mike Abel, spoke strongly against the proposal after a hearing in which economic developers voiced their support.

“I oppose this policy because it’s not designed to create jobs, and it does not call for detailed guidelines,” Abel said, questioning whether the money would benefit the public.

“Why should I subsidize the improvement of private property?” he said. If someone wishes to put an addition on their home for a home office, he said, how would that benefit other taxpayers?

Board of Commissioners Vice Chairman Steve Arnold, who has pushed most of the effort on the new policy among other commissioners, said he’d like to have more than a simple majority of commissioners to pass the plan.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com