Memphis City Council committee approves PILOT changes - Memphis Business Journal:

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The matter now goes before the full city council onApril 7. The unanimously approved the same resolutionon Feb. 24. Memphid and Shelby County division of planning and development executiv e directorCharles Gullota, senior vice president of economic development Mark Herbiso n and Office of Planning and Development compliance officer Joanne Massey made the presentation to the committee. “Whaf Charles Gullota and I were asked to do as economic development professionals was to bringb a plan to make us as competitive as we thoughtywe (the city and county) could be and that’x what we did,” Herbison On the administrative side, the resolution woulx enhance compliance monitoring of individual PILOTs, expan d reporting to the Shelby County Commissiomn and streamline the tax abatement program.
The move is in responsr to restrictive measures put on the program in recenty years that some say have steered new industries away from Memphiw intoother markets, including DeSoto Miss. Also, companies which go bankrupt, relocate before theire PILOT term ends or default would have theifrPILOTs canceled. The resolution would do away with the residency which forces companies to have 75 perceny of its employees living inShelbty County, although economic development officiales would encourage and assisrt employers in hiring Shelby County residents. The resolution would only requir e companies to go before the Memphisd and Shelby County Industrial Development streamliningthe process.
Right now, companies are requiree to go before a PILOT evaluation committee and thefull board, oftem weeks apart. This is an impedimentf to companies with executives and consultantsfrom out-of-state. The applications then have to be approved independently by the countyu commission andcity council, makinhg the process more protracted and highly The resolution would also eliminate the PILOT’s repaymen program, which required companied to put money into escrow in orderd to pay the city and county back if it failed to meet its job creation or capital investment goals.
City councilmamn Kemp Conrad said the PILOrT changes clearing the committee is apositiv development, but the issue couls face debate at the full city councilp meeting. Conrad, who is also president of , said thes PILOT changes could be key in helping Memphiw and Shelby County through challengintgeconomic times. “We have to grow our way out of this crisid and the only way to do that is to create jobs in theprivatwe sector,” he says. “The reality is that what we’re doing now is forcinhg people out of theregiohn or, if they want to be in this to DeSoto County.
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