Page 46 - Southern Delaware Tourism - 2019 Visitors Guide

Welcome to Sussex County!
While it’s true that the Delaware beaches are among the best in the world for vacations, the business- friendly climate, shovel-ready projects and favorable property taxes are the advantages you are looking for if you want to live where you work.
We’re here to tell you that Sussex County is open for business, and we would like you to consider starting or expanding your business here. We have a multitude of incentives — everything from low-interest loans to Opportunity Zones — that you should consider.
Allow me to share just a snapshot of some of our initiatives...
■ Low-Interest Loan Program
The county created a public-private partnership with
Discover Bank, the National Development Council and the Small Business Administration, investing $4 million in the ExciteSussex Loan Program to provide low-interest, long-term loans, aimed at businesses that have at least 10 employees and have been in business for at least two years.
■ Economic and Opportunity Zones
To create new interest in these areas, Sussex County identified
three Economic Development Zones ripe for redevelopment and expansion. Fortunately for Sussex County, on the heels of this designation, Delaware identified 25 census tracts that have been approved by the U.S. Department of the Treasury
as Opportunity Zones. Five of those zones — one each in Georgetown and Laurel and three in Seaford — mirror the newly designated Sussex zones. Today,
investors are eligible for federal tax
Sussex County is the fastest-growing county in the fastest- growing state in
the Northeast. The County is in close proximity to the major metro markets of Washington,
D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City and Richmond, VA.
incentives — through capital gains reinvestment — in these low-income, economically depressed zones.
These Opportunity Zone designations will assist ongoing community development efforts and encourage additional private investment. As a result, qualified investors in the zones will become eligible for federal tax incentives. As growth moves westward from the coastal areas, these new incentives help make central and western Sussex the new frontier.
■ Downtown Development Districts Another recent initiative, Downtown Development Districts
are located within several Opportunity and Economic Development Zones in Sussex County. Many of these Downtown Development Districts offer additional state, county and municipal incentives for downtown development. Investors can begin to stack these incentives with Opportunity Zone and Development Zone benefits to make their investments even more attractive. Delaware added an additional several million dollars to the program in 2019.
■ Software
SizeUp is a digital research software program providing
geographically specific market information to empower entrepreneurs in their decision-making processes. The new
program will be incorporated into the ExciteSussex website in early 2019 and will be free of
charge to use, thanks to the county’s investment.
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