February 2017 | Business View Magazine

222 223 says Noble. “And while we’re creating jobs, we’re also providing value back to the region through increased benefits to our rural partners.” Noble adds that other companies are beginning to express interest in the park, including one that wants to build a combined-cycle natural gas generating facility. “Now that we’ve got the gas line and the transmission line, it makes it a pretty attractive site,” he says. Thorn says that once all the plots are eventually sold, the city will realize a profit while increasing its tax base. Meanwhile, the City will be installing all of the new water lines and sewer systems with funds realized from plot purchases. “We Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan It’s about job creation. And while we’re creating jobs, we’re also providing value back to the region through increased benefits to our rural partners. MATT NOBLE CITY MANAGER receive a lot of support from the community for the concept and I think people will be pretty excited when the actual construction starts,” she states. Moose Jaw has a number of programs that it uses to attract tenants. One key initiative is a five-year property tax phase-in with a sliding scale based on the number of jobs created. For example, a company creating more than 60 new jobs in manufacturing or processing, transporta- tion/warehousing distribution, or communications and research sectors, can receive a five-year, 100%, property tax exemption(excluding land). Canadian Protein Innovation will be eligible. For existing businesses that want to expand, the City provides a five-year property tax phase- in to new builds or expansions. The exemption is applied to the increased assessed value re- sulting from construction, as follows: 100% Year 1; 80 % Year 2; 60% Year 3; 40% Year 2; and 20% Year 5. “That really applied an incentive for the local guys expanding and we saw a lot of development there,” says Noble. While the ag-processing industry gets off the ground in Moose Jaw, and other businesses continue to expand, the fact is that a good fifth of the City’s economy is built around tourism. Indeed, close to half a million tourists visit the city each year. “This city has a rich history,” says Noble. “We have tourist attractions like the Tun- nels of Moose Jaw.” The Tunnels of Moose Jaw were a network of underground tunnels built around 1908 that connected buildings in the downtown area. They were originally construct- L&I ELEctrIc 580 Lillooet Street West Moose Jaw, SK S6H 4Z5 Phone: 306-693-3359 Fax: 306-693-0476 Email: li.electric@shaw.ca n Commerical n Industrial n Residential ELECtRICaL ContRaCtoRS