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The Commissioners individually voiced their preferences on the eight incentives, and <br />discussed looking at additional incentives - expanding opportunities throughout the County, <br />developing strategies to modify the Enterprise Zone area, and finding out how they to be <br />competitive. <br />Commissioner Solari wanted a better idea of the potential cost of all of the incentives <br />before making any decision. <br />Commissioner O'Bryan suggested increasing funding to the Economic Development <br />Office to do a better job promoting what our County has to offer. <br />Helene Castletine stated that she did reach out to the State Coordinator, who sent out a <br />survey to all the Enterprise Zones through the Chamber of Commerce, and only a handful of <br />responses were received back. From that survey, a couple of responses were that other counties <br />do not offer anything within their Enterprise Zones The City of Fort Myers uses the business <br />tax receipt program, which is the most widely used incentive at the local level. They also have a <br />water and sewer impact fee waiver. She did reach out to other colleagues, but did not get a lot of <br />feedback. She felt the Board could look into expanding boundaries, but the County still has to <br />meet the minimum threshold that the State has required. <br />MOTION WAS MADE by Vice Chairman Davis, to <br />direct staff to move forward to analyze all eight <br />incentives, SECONDED by Chairman Flescher, for <br />discussion. <br />Chairman Flescher clarified that the Board was not approving the incentives today; they <br />were only directing staff to analyze them further. <br />January 8, 2013 14 <br />X43 PG 3 7 <br />