Brighton formalizes incentive plan to attract new and expand existing businesses

BRIGHTON — Brighton city leaders on Tuesday formalized the city’s economic incentive policy to attract business or to expand existing businesses in a predictable set of guidelines for all.

The policy, developed after studying other cities’ policies, locally and nationally, and taking into account the council’s more-recent incentive packages, will require applicants to meet certain performance milestones to obtain the incentives.

The Brighton City Council passed the updated policy through its consent agenda, with no discussion, to cement the new policy which also will allow the city manager to provide up to a $250,000 incentive without council approval. “We created this to have some guidelines,” Brighton Economic Development Corp. director Robin Martinez told the council Feb. 11. “We’re not just looking to incentivize anything that comes through the doors. It’s in alignment with your strategy you have in place, and it meets the needs of business as well as allows staff to understand where we can have conversations” about how the city treats new or existing businesses wanting to come to or expand in town.

Martinez and Economic Development Manager Mike Masciola presented the plan to the council in detail on Feb. 11 as a way to provide some predictability for businesses and city staff, having operated the last few years on a case-by-case basis.

“The purpose of this is to really create a structured process that identifies the guidelines and priorities and the requirements for incentives,” Masciola said. “A lot of incentive policies were case-by-case incentive packages. Here, the effort is to create a framework in which you as a council and companies know what boundaries we’re all operating (under).”

The policy will allow up to 50% rebates on sales taxes, use taxes and/or business personal property taxes, and may last up to five years. The policy would allow the city manager at his discretion to offer up to $250,000 in incentives to applicable businesses without council approval. 

To be eligible, incoming businesses must create at least 50 new jobs, provide an annual wage of at least 20% over the county’s average wage, and provide a minimal capital investment of at least $100,000; or have a minimum of $15 million in net annual sales and meets a retail need not otherwise being satisfied in Brighton.

“I do appreciate the ability to take some of the political and whim-based approvals of these incentive packages away and make it into something that’s predictable,” Mayor Pro-Tem Peter Padilla said after the Feb 11 presentation.

The new policy is being seen as a foundation, but it doesn’t prohibit other incentives that could sweeten the pot for an especially sought-after business to come to town. Those cases would have to come before the council. 

City Manager Michael Martinez said the city has given only about a handful of incentive agreements in his nine years with the city, and the policy may only affect from one to three deals a year.The policy comes months after the city secured a long-sought-after Olive Garden restaurant in an agreement that would guarantee 100% rebate of the city’s 1% sale tax up to a maximum of $250,000, or for eight years, whichever comes first; and a waiver of the $65,000 in use tax it would normally be expected to pay — all so long as the restaurant construction begins by April 30, 2025, and construction continues until its completion. The agreement states the restaurant must open no later than May 31, 2026.

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