In a work session, the city of Newton laid out priorities for the upcoming year and one of those included establishing criteria for economic incentives.
Hallelujah!
Criteria for economic incentives are relatively common when it comes to governments across the state. Sedgwick County has them. Wichita has them. Even Haven, with a population of 2,000 people, has them.
But currently, Newton lacks any such criteria. The criteria amounts to city staff telling the commission it’s a good idea to give a business incentives, or pay for public improvements, or provide tax abatements, etc.
The commission then decides if that’s a good idea or a bad idea. The commission and city staff have a chance this year to layout a plan that says, “This is what we think is good for Newton; this is the return it will have to bring on our investment and this is how much we have available to make it happen.” We applaud the idea of the city to establish criteria. We recommend that the city evaluates neighboring governments when formulating this plan. We also recommend that the city not settle for bending over backwards to bring in bottom feeders or risky ventures. Its criteria should include respectable returns on public investment, jobs that increase, not decrease average wages and companies whose presence in Newton will not diminish quality of life nor devalue the community.
(Read more: Newton Now)