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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nCity Manager Shawn Sherrouse said, \u201cThese types of incentives are an investment in Lakeland\u2019s economic future. Successful businesses require growth and the City of Lakeland offers a number of programs to help businesses become winners within the marketplace.\u201d He added, \u201cThe newly-established Targeted Economic Investment Opportunities Fund helped create and seed the newest incentives that include the Utility Impact Fee Financing program, the Manufacturing R&D program and the EDGE program. These newly established programs are now part of our complete incentives menu to help with economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole Travis, Director of Community & Economic Development said, \u201cIncentives are a good investment for our community because it represents job creation and economic expansion within the City. Economic incentives should be viewed through the lens of how they benefit the overall community, rather than the company itself. Economic incentives bridge cost gaps and make new investment feasible while providing ancillary benefit to the community. They are a true win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The City of Lakeland is open for business and offers the following incentives to help businesses make a smart investment into their future:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Impact Fee Mitigation<\/strong> \u2013 Development that encourages quality job growth and meets the criteria for jobs created and wage levels may receive a reduction in non-utility impact fees.<\/li>
- Utility Impact Fee Financing<\/strong> \u2013 Substantial commercial and industrial projects can finance water\/wastewater impact fees finance-free for the first three years. Repayment with interest begins year four.<\/li>
- Manufacturing\/Research & Development<\/strong> \u2013 Manufacturing and certain development projects that meet criteria with number of jobs created, capital investment and salary levels may be eligible to receive a grant for up to $400,000 for infrastructure expenses.<\/li>
- EDGE – Encouraging Development Growth & Expansion<\/strong> \u2013 This is an infrastructure matching grant up to $10,000 for new or expanding food service and manufacturing businesses that meet the criteria for required backflow preventers, venting systems, grease traps and fire sprinkler systems.<\/li>
- Polk County Bonus Incentive<\/strong> \u2013 This is a grant designed to compete for projects on a national level. Eligible businesses must meet job wage and capital investment criteria.<\/li>
- Electric Economic Development Rider<\/strong> \u2013 This incentive was created by Lakeland Electric to help attract new investment and jobs. Eligible companies may receive discounts on new electric demand for up to five years.<\/li>
- Redevelopment Programs & Incentives<\/strong> \u2013 The Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has a number of incentives designed to encourage beautification, economic development and community partnerships within the Downtown, Midtown and Dixieland designated districts.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Jason Willey, Manager of Strategic Projects said, \u201cThese new incentives will be used to attract and grow additional industry in Lakeland as we remain focused on working with companies that add value to our citizens and community.\u201d For more information on all of Lakeland\u2019s economic development incentive programs, please visit LakelandGov.net\/Incentives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The City of Lakeland was incorporated January 1885 and has grown to become one of the largest inland communities in Florida. Lakeland continues to grow with the current population over 100,000. It has been designated a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area by the US Census Bureau for over 30 years. With tourist attractions and gulf beaches only an hour away, Lakeland capitalizes on its ideal central Florida location along the I-4 corridor. The City owns and operates Lakeland Electric, the third largest publicly owned utility in Florida and it was one of the first to offer power in the Sunshine State almost 120 years ago. For additional information about the City of Lakeland, please visit www.lakelandgov.net<\/a>. Citizens are also invited to follow the City on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo, Snapchat and Nextdoor. Citizens can find the City of Lakeland on these social media platforms by searching lakelandgov. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Lakeland City Commission recently established a Targeted Economic Investment Opportunities Fund, with an initial investment of $500,000. This incentive was created to assist qualified manufacturing companies (new or expanding)… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Utility Impact Fee Financing<\/strong> \u2013 Substantial commercial and industrial projects can finance water\/wastewater impact fees finance-free for the first three years. Repayment with interest begins year four.<\/li>