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Should the Board decide to move forward with preserving the 10% local jobs grant bonus, a proposed resolution is attached for Board approval. As structured, the resolution will allow the county to maintain the bonus for the two previously approved local jobs grants (PCP Ammunition and Girard Equipment) and also to maintain the bonus as an option for future local jobs grant applicants locating in the geographic area of the Enterprise Zone (see attachment#3). Economic Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Program On November 2,2010,Indian River County voters approved the use of Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemptions (tax abatements) to encourage local economic development. As authorized by state statute,the program provides for certain new businesses and existing expanding businesses that make improvements to real property and/or purchase tangible personal property to request that county taxes be abated for a period of up to 10 years. To be eligible to apply,a business must either be a manufacturer that provides at least 10 new jobs,a company that has a sales factor for its facility of less than 0.50 and provides at least 25 new jobs,a corporate office that provides at least 50 new jobs, or a business in an Enterprise Zone that provides at least I new job. With respect to the reduced qualification criteria for the Enterprise Zone(italicized above),County Planning staff reviewed the state enabling legislation and coordinated with the County Attorney,the County Property Appraiser's office,and the County Property Appraiser's Attorney to determine the legality of continuing to use reduced qualification criteria for tax abatements in the Enterprise Zone area. From review of the enabling legislation, it has been concluded that with the sun-setting of the Enterprise Zone program by the state on December 31, 2015,provisions within the state Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption statute referencing Enterprise Zones are also terminated. Because of that termination, the tax abatement incentive can no longer be given to businesses located/locating within the geographic boundaries of the Enterprise Zone based on reduced qualification criteria. Therefore, after December 31, 2015, any local ordinance and associated documents that provide reduced qualification criteria of businesses within an Enterprise Zone area are no longer valid and must be revised. To date, only 1 tax abatement has been awarded (INEOS) and the affected business is not located within the Enterprise Zone area. Therefore,no existing tax abatement award will be affected by the Enterprise Zone changes. With respect to Indian River County,both its Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption ordinance and its Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption application must be updated to remove references to the local Enterprise Zone.For the ordinance,the County Attorney has drafted an agenda item requesting that the Board authorize the County Attorney to advertise for a public hearing to remove references to the Enterprise Zone within the County's Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Ordinance. That item is also scheduled for Board consideration at its January 12,2016 meeting. For the tax abatement application,proposed changes are attached to this agenda item for Board consideration. The main changes are on page 2 of the "Application"and on page 1 of the associated "Scoring Guidelines". The proposed changes remove the option for a 4 223