ROCKDALE COUNTY PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Jan. 31, 2012

Contact: Tonya Y. Parker, Director, Community Affairs & Innovative Programs, (770) 278-7056

Rockdale County Thrilled about Governor Deal Approving Opportunity Zone to Help Spur Job Creation and Economic Development

CONYERS, Ga. – Governor Nathan Deal and Commissioner Mike Beatty have helped Rockdale County launch a major economic revitalization effort by recently approving its application for Opportunity Zone Tax Credits. This special program gives businesses that create at least two jobs in a special 1,909-acre corridor a significant tax credit.

The goal of the state Department of Community Affairs program is to help local governments revitalize designated older industrial and commercial areas.

An Opportunity Zone (OZ) tax credit gives a new or existing business within the zone boundary a credit of up to $ 3,500 per job to use against that businesses’ income tax liability and state payroll withholding. For instance, a firm planning to locate or expand in Rockdale could claim the credit for up to five years as long as they maintain those new jobs.

This valuable incentive now makes Rockdale County a Tier 1 county, which is one of only two in the Atlanta MSA. Before, without this higher tier, the maximum tax credit a business could get in Rockdale, as a Tier 3 designee, was $1,250 per job created. Tier 1 OZ boundaries are considered the most distressed in a county or state.

“We could not have received a more perfectly-tailored tool to help us gain a competitive advantage to bring companies to Rockdale for the long term,” Rockdale County Chairman and CEO Richard Oden said. “We want these companies to invest in our community and grow roots here.”

Businesses can begin taking a credit now, provided two net new jobs are created. The designation is valid for tax years 2012 through 2022, with a possibility for renewal.

The boundaries for the Rockbridge redevelopment area are north of I-20 and just south of Sigman Road with parts of it touching Lester on the west and Rockbridge on the east.

Chairman Oden, in his commitment to make Rockdale a perfectly-positioned community, is pushing to make the County an attractive employment and activity center in the region through business retention, constant business recruitment and relationship-building locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

“As the community learns more about the benefits of this designation, I’m confident they will embrace it and share my enthusiasm for its success,” he said. “Our citizens deserve a chance to be part of a multi-faceted economic renaissance.”

A map of the zone is at www.dca.ga.gov/economic/DevelopmentTools/programs/downloads/RockdaleOZ.pdf.
 

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ROCKDALE COUNTY IS A PERFECTLY-POSITIONED COMMUNITY WITH A ROCK-SOLID APPROACH DEDICATED TO EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE, QUALITY OF LIFE AND GLOBAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.