(a) An Ontario Job Creation Tax Credit (Ontario JCTC) is hereby created within the City of Ontario which may be authorized by the Council of the City of Ontario by Ordinance for individual companies that meet the following minimum thresholds:
(1) Eligible Companies - Any non-point of final purchase retail project, which commits to the creation of new, full-time, or full-time equivalent jobs in the City of Ontario. These new, full-time, or full-time equivalent jobs must be created, and maintained, by the company (Company) within three years of the granting of the Ontario JCTC incentive. An eligible company must currently be paying, or will be paying, municipal incomes taxes.
(2) Eligible Projects - Eligible projects may include headquarter, manufacturing, science and technology, research and development, distribution, and certain types of service projects that have applied for State of Ohio development assistance.
(3) Repealed
(4) At least 10 new, full-time jobs must be created and maintained by the Company within three years of initial operations. If employment subsequently falls below 10 new full-time jobs, the credit may only continue if the Ohio JCTC is allowed to continue by the State of Ohio.
(5) The average hourly base wage rate (excluding benefits) of the project's new, full-time, or full-time equivalent jobs for three years must be at, or above, 150% of the higher of the U.S. Federal minimum wage or the Ohio minimum wage (average income jobs).
(6) If the project involves an expansion or consolidation of an existing facility, the Company must commit to retaining the current number of employees. The Ontario JCTC will apply only to the net new, full-time, or full-time equivalent positions in the project within the City of Ontario.
(7) The project must involve a substantial fixed-asset investment in land, building, machinery/equipment, and/or infrastructure.
(8) The project must not have already begun. The applicant shall not make a public announcement of the proposed project prior to receiving JCTC program approvals from both the State of Ohio and the Ontario City Council. Employees hired prior to the above-referenced approvals cannot be counted as eligible, new employees for the purpose of the tax credit programs.
(b) For companies meeting the above criteria when approved by City Council, the following criteria shall apply:
(1) Refundable income tax credits shall be established by a written Ontario Jobs Creation Tax Credit Agreement with each Company as authorized by Ordinance of City Council. The tax credit under this Agreement shall not exceed ten (10) years.
(2) The rate of each tax credit will be established by the Ontario City Council, which may grant a higher rate for a company that will have a combination of high paying jobs and/or a large number of jobs. Consideration of the location of the project and the difficulty in occupying the site also may be considered. In no case shall the Ontario JCTC credit exceed 50% of the additional income tax revenue generated from the jobs associated with the application.
(3) The tax credit shall be measured by the income taxes actually collected from the qualifying new jobs and may be applied against the tax on the Company's net profits.
(4) Under no circumstances shall the term of the tax credit exceed that provided to the applicant under the State of Ohio Jobs Creation Tax Credit Agreement as authorized by the Ohio R.C. 122.17.
(5) Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the Ontario Jobs Creation Tax Credit Agreement may result in the loss of subsequent credit for the duration of the agreement by action of the City Council after notice and an opportunity to respond. The Agreement shall contain terms and provisions for the recovery or "claw back" to address situations in which the Company moves out of the City of Ontario during the term required in subsection (a)(9) hereof. Recovery and "claw back" being the repayment of all or a portion of previous granted tax credits or refunds. The Agreement shall also provide for annual review by Council to determine compliance.
(6) The participant shall comply with all applicable Municipal Codes, Regulations and Rules. Further, the Company shall provide copies of all required reports to the Ohio Department of Development, in duplicate to City Council, required as a part of the obligations and terms of the Ohio JCTC.
(Ord. 14-08. Passed 3-20-14.)