The town of Century was recommended by Florida Gov. Rick Scott Thursday, April 19, to be designated as one of nine tracts in Escambia (Fla.), Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties as Opportunity Zones. Gov. Scott announced his recommendation to designate 427 communities across every Florida county as opportunity zones.
Low Tax Opportunity Zones, established in the federal Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, encourage long-term investment and job creation in targeted communities by reducing taxes for many job creators.
“They give incentives back, such as an incentive of hiring a certain number of local people,” said Century Mayor Henry Hawkins. “Its good revenue for the town, because we still get the tax credit, or tax dollars. It's something to dangle out there, but we need to get some other things in place first.”
Hawkins said that although the opportunity zone status may appeal to companies searching for potential locations for business in north Florida, the town of Century is lacking in many amenities that those companies take for granted.
“It would be difficult for a company to do business here without a hospital, schools or a police department,” said Hawkins. “They don't want to hire a bunch of people if in case something happens, they have to go somewhere else, like Jay Hospital. That's one reason we now have the new clinic here in Century.”
According to a press release, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has 30 days to certify each state’s recommendations. After the zones are approved, the federal government will begin the rule-making process to designate how opportunity funds are created and how businesses, developers and financial institutions can invest in qualified zones.
