The City Council of the City of Fort Worth (City) has previously passed Ordinance No. 15733 electing to participate in the Texas Enterprise Zone Program. On May 12, 2015 the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 21743-05-2015, amending Ordinance No. 15733 by adding additional potential local incentives that could be made available to qualified businesses under the Texas Enterprise Zone Program. The Office of the Governor Economic Development and Tourism through the Economic Development Bank will consider Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA LLC (Mercedes-Benz Financial) as an enterprise project pursuant to a nomination and an application made by the City. The Texas Enterprise Zone Program is an economic development tool for local communities to partner with the State of Texas to promote job creation and capital investment in economically distressed areas of the State. An enterprise project is defined as a business that is nominated by a municipality or county and then approved for state benefits. Designated projects are eligible to apply for state sales and use tax refunds on qualified expenditures. The level and amount of refund is related to the capital investment and jobs created at the qualified business site. Mercedes-Benz Financial qualifies for a single Enterprise Project Designation with a projected
capital investment of $50 million for the relocation of its operations to new construction at 14372
Heritage Parkway. The investment includes $3 million to be spent on land acquisition, $28 million
to be spent on building construction and $19 million to be spent on office and technical equipment
for increased financial services capacity. The company will retain 500 employees with an average
annual salary of $70,000.00. The single project designation allows for a state sales and use tax refund on qualified expenditures of $2,500.00 per job, for up to 500 jobs, with a maximum benefit of $1.25 million over a five year period. Under the Texas Enterprise Zone Act at least twenty-five percent of the business' new or retained employees will be residents of an enterprise zone, economically disadvantaged individuals, or veterans. In addition, the jobs will be provided through the end of the designation period or at least three years after the date on which a state benefit is received, whichever is later. This project is located in Council District 2. This M&C does not request approval of a contract with a business entity.
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