(A) Eligible applicants. An applicant shall be eligible for an incentive loan or employee withholdings credit only if:
(1) It is a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation authorized to do business in the Commonwealth of Kentucky exclusive of retail industry jobs, bars, hotels/motels or jobs in a sexually oriented business/adult entertainment business as elsewhere defined within the City's Code of Ordinances; and
(2) It engages in industrial, service or technology activity inside the corporate limits of the City; or
(3) It engages in the services of a licensedprofessional, such as, but not limited to, architects, attorneys, engineers, physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists and certified public accounts.
Such applicants shall be required to submit a copyof their professional license or certificate to the City at the time of application and at all subsequent times the City may request to confirm the same remains in good standing.
(B) Eligible projects. A project shall be eligible for employee withholdings credit only if it directly creates new jobs so as to generate employee withholdings sufficient to quality the applicant for not less than the minimum incentive program amount.
(C) Employee withholdings credits. The employee withholding credits are designed to and intended to provide a credit to eligible applicants of the withholding fees payable to the City, which are generated by new employees. To be eligible for the credit, the applicant must generate a minimum of $250,000.00 in Newport taxable wages each calendar year of the credit. If approved, the applicant may retain, at the City’s discretion, a percentage amount to be determined by the Director of the employees’ withholdings generated by new jobs otherwise owed to the City for a period up to ten (10) years as determined by the City. This credit is to be applied to the employee withholdings payable to the City and not for any other taxes or fees payable to the City, the Newport Independent School System or to any other taxing agency, district or authority. It shall be the responsibility of an approved company to deduct the employee withholdings from the employees’ paychecks. It shall also be the responsibility of an approved company to report all employee withholdings to the City on forms prescribed by the City.
At the City’s discretion, the percentage rate and/or the time period may be extended up to a maximum of 20 years should the applicant generate aminimum of $15,000,000.00 in Newport taxable wages or a minimum of $10,000,000 in Newport taxable wages combined with a minimum of $10,000,000 in capital investments during each of theadditional qualifying 10 years.
In the event any applicant should fail to generate the minimum requisite Newport tax wages set forth above during any calendar year of the approved term, the City, at its discretion, may lower the percentage amount for each of the remaining calendar years.
Those applicants set forth in (A)(3) above shallqualify without the necessity of meeting the minimum Newport taxable wage amount requirementshereunder but shall remain subject to allother provisions of the Program.
(D) Kentucky Job Development Act exempted. An applicant company that has, or becomes, approved and qualified for credits or benefits under the Kentucky Job Development Act (KJDA) or similar Commonwealth of Kentucky program for a business, division or location within the City shall not be entitled to any incentives in addition thereto from the City during the term of its agreement/program with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In such case the incentive received by the applicant shall be considered as the City's matching contribution under the KJDA or similar program of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. When the term of the City's Job Development Program agreement expires or would have expired theCity will then participate in the KJDA incentive program pursuant to the provisions of the Kentucky Revised Statutes or related Administrative Regulationsfor the remaining term of the Applicant’s KJDA agreement or similar Commonwealth of Kentucky program.
(Ord. O-2007-005, passed 4-23-2007; Am. Ord. O-2009-001, passed 2-9-2009; Am. Ord. O-2015-003, passed 5-18-2015; Am. Ord. O-2017-002, passed 1-23-2017)