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October 6, 2009· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

Gee, I wish I were a business

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

SCVTalk reader cash captures my uneasiness with how the City endlessly trumps its friendliness to businesses:

“Santa Clarita, you’re in good hands with the group that’s at the helm,” Pulskamp said.

How’s that for patting yourself on the back.  Ken’s comment was made to an audience of mostly business people….The city is cutting service so that they can give business a break.

Example, roads that would have been seal coated before new stripping, are not being coated.  New strips are be placed on roadways that the asphalt is breaking down.  This is being done because of budget considerations. The budget should always be a consideration, but not maintaining the infrastructure so that dollars are available to pay for the 21 point plan, should be unacceptable to the taxpayers.

Not only that, but if you watch the video with Ferry in it, it says the City is delaying construction projects like the gym and other facilities because of the economic crunch. Yet they put all these resources into helping local businesses.

Yesterday, prior to the luncheon, the City sent out a press release touting the success of its Enteprise Zone program:

The City of Santa Clarita issued a record number of certificates for the Santa Clarita Enterprise Zone this September, which is the most in the history of the State program.  The Santa Clarita businesses community has realized substantial tax savings since the City received its official Enterprise Zone designation from the State in July 2007.
In September 2009, the City issued a record 180 certificates for Enterprise Zone hiring tax credits. This amount is the highest number of certificates issued in a single month to date, with a potential savings of more than $6.7 million directly for City-based businesses.

The City of Santa Clarita issued a record number of certificates for the Santa Clarita Enterprise Zone this September, which is the most in the history of the State program.  The Santa Clarita businesses community has realized substantial tax savings since the City received its official Enterprise Zone designation from the State in July 2007.

In September 2009, the City issued a record 180 certificates for Enterprise Zone hiring tax credits. This amount is the highest number of certificates issued in a single month to date, with a potential savings of more than $6.7 million directly for City-based businesses.

So by using the Enterprise Zone, local businesses have, potentially, deprived the state, and by extension, the City of Santa Clarita some $6.7 million.

That’s great for the business owners, but what do you and I and others in the non-business owning community get for that? I asked Jason Crawford of the City’s economic development what the “180 certificates for Enterprise Zone hiring tax credits” means for local jobs:

Yes, it means that the local businesses have hired 180 new employees that were “Enterprise Zone eligible’, meaning they meet the criteria that qualifies the business for the tax credit.  The employees could have been hired anytime since the July 1, 2007 designation of the Santa Clarita Enterprise Zone.  The Enterprise Zone program allows for a business to amend their tax returns to retro-actively qualify for this benefit.

We hope that the significant tax savings businesses receive when hiring eligible employees, will motivate business representatives to continue to hire.

So it sounds like the EZ program does encourage limited job creation/retention in Santa Clarita. But what kind of jobs are they? Are they the kind of jobs that a professional would be interested in? Would these jobs compete with the ones in LA, or are they jobs like what I imagine are offered at the Egg Plantation, which was mentioned in the city’s press release.

On the other hand, I do appreciate the fact that aside from real estate and development, Santa Clarita really has no industry to speak of. It’s not like this town is a manufacturing hub, or a shipping/logistics hub. The city gets a big share of its revenue from sales tax, so it’d be foolish and irresponsible not to implement programs that support that revenue.

I just feel like supporting business is all they talk about anymore. There’s no vision from our elected representatives about Santa Clarita’s future, how we’re going to grow or our place in Southern California. I intend to bring these sort of ‘macro’ issues up as we head into the City Council election.

Comments (5)

  1. cashOctober 6, 2009 at 12:26 pm
    Jason’s thought that a business hires just to be hiring is not supported by fact. Businesses hire not to be nice, they hire because there is a business need. That need is generally made necessary because the business is selling or producing more widgets and needs more people to handle the growth. Smart business looks to technology to handle growth before they consider hiring people (sad but true). I suspect if the taxpayers are going to pay the salary via the EZ, said low paid employees can stand in the corner for all the business owner cares. It is too bad the City in not able to tap the EZ, perhaps we would not have to see Ferry sweeping the streets or see other services reduced and project postponed. The more we are burdened with higher taxes (thanks to programs like the EZ) and higher cost for good and services, the less likely growth will occur. The growth in new home construction and and inflated home prices was the economic engine that made dollars available for consumers to purchase good and services; creating growth in many ways. Before that it was the technology boom. I ask you what is today’s economic engine? I think the hope is that government stimulated green energy policy will provide that engine. We’ll have to wait and see if green works and if it does it will probably be years in development. Meanwhile, at some point Ken will have to back away from his tax give away plan and he’ll have to use our tax dollars as they were intended to be used.
  2. spineflower2October 6, 2009 at 7:46 pm
    Voters don’t elect City councilmen, businesses do. So of course the City is friendly to businesses. Maybe I’m nuts, but it would be nice to see the City brag about how it is good for PEOPLE instead. And mean it.
  3. Need for Involved CitizenryOctober 7, 2009 at 7:07 am
    At some point, the non-business owning citizens in Santa Clarita will wake up and realize that the bulk of the time the City Council has been giving them the short end of the stick. The bulk of the sales tax revenue the City receives comes from its RESIDENTS, not its businesses. Seeing firms like WalMart or Valencia Acura take advantage of the Economic Zone tax benefits makes one question how leveraging this program really is. If the City wants to throw away money (whether it is theirs or the States), why don’t they better target companies and institutions that can provide the mid to high income positions that are so dearly needed in the SCV. Jumping up and down and saying “we have a 21 point plan” and “we are the most business friendly community in So Cal” has to date been mostly ineffective outside of perhaps perhaps firms like Boston Scientific (but not Princess Cruises, John Paul Mitchell, etc who employee mostly lower level folks).
  4. cashOctober 7, 2009 at 8:03 am
    Question? Does the EZ have a requirement that a new position has to be created and filled to take advantage of the taxpayer money, or can they layoff an employee, sign up for the EZ benefit and they rehire the employee. How is responsible for auditing what businesses are doing?
  5. cashOctober 7, 2009 at 8:03 am
    Who!!!!!! not How!!!!!!!!!

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