City of Kimberley set to offer investment incentive for businesses

The City of Kimberley is excited to announce its intention to proceed with an incentive program to encourage investment in commercial, industrial and brownfield properties.

In alignment with council’s 2012 priorities to cultivate business opportunities and support business retention and expansion, the City intends to provide two types of municipal tax relief to encourage business investment:

1) Business in designated commercial and industrial areas would be eligible for relief on the increase in municipal taxes due to increased property assessments resulting from investments; Class 6 commercial projects will be eligible for 100 per cent relief for three years, while Class 4 industrial projects will be eligible for 100 per cent relief for five years.

2) Investments in brownfield redevelopment projects would be eligible for 50 per cent relief on all municipal taxes while environmental investigation or remediation is taking place for a maximum of three years.

The purpose of the program is to encourage owners to invest in their property and the community, by providing relief from the increase in municipal property taxes that can result from improvements made to their property.

According to Mayor Ron McRae, “This program demonstrates the City’s commitment to being a partner in business. Now is the time to invest, while construction costs are relatively low, as well as the fact that Kimberley boasts zero development cost charges. The timing for this couldn’t be better as the City prepares to develop its light industrial property.”

The City recently completed remediation of 14.7 hectares of light industrial property in the Marysville area, creating opportunity for expansion of an existing business or establishment of new business in Kimberley.

Those projects that obtained a permit on or since July 1, 2012 may be eligible. Council will consider the proposed bylaw on September 10, and the City is aiming to have it implemented by early October, 2012.