Perez Focuses on New Jobs, Businesses

For the second time in as many months, Riverside County Fourth District Supervisor V. Manuel “Manny” Perez is working with one of his colleagues to introduce legislation unlike any in recent memory.

In December, Perez and Third District Supervisor Chuck Washington co-authored and introduced the Veterans Improvement Program of Riverside County. It passed unanimously.

Now, Perez, who was appointed Supervisor fewer than nine months ago, is focusing on attracting and retaining businesses in the county. Perez was a Democratic assembly member representing California’s 56th State Assembly when Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, replacing the late John Benoit.

On Jan. 23, Perez and First District Supervisor Kevin Jeffries will introduce legislation they co-authored to create jobs and attract development in the Fourth District and throughout Riverside County.

This proposed policy, which has been in development since November, will be the eighth item on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda. This marks the first time the county has considered a full range of incentives and placed them on the books, according to Thomas S. Freeman, Perez’s chief of policy.

These incentives are the direct result of conversations with business leaders and job creators across the Fourth District and Riverside County.

“Supervisor Perez’s and Supervisor Jeffries’ legislation would give county staff the tools they need to attract new jobs and business in the county,” Freeman told Uken Report. “At present, the county does not offer incentives. This would be the first time the board of supervisors authorized such programs and policies. Other communities in California offer incentives and if we are to be competitive these incentives will help.”

Some of the proposed incentive policies and programs to stimulate job development, job retention, and create new revenue sources include:

• create a series of economic development incentives to be used in business attraction, retention, and job creation for the unincorporated areas of the county
• create, on a case by case basis, the Partial Retail Sales Tax Sharing Agreement Policy for selected business
• create, on a case by case basis, the Partial Transient Occupancy Tax Revenue Sharing Agreement
• create a Development Fee Deferral Agreement Program, on a case by case basis, for targeted business
• expand and or review the Industrial Development Bond program that assists eligible and targeted industries in the issuance of bonds, on a case by case basis
• directs a separate review of current fees for job creators, and seeks staff recommendations on fees that could be reduced, frozen, and/or eliminated to stimulate investment, growth, and job creation
• directs the authorization to utilize, on a case by case basis, Enhanced Infrastructure Finance Districts, in the unincorporated areas of the county as appropriate
• directs the authorization to utilize, on a case by case basis, Community Revitalization and Investment Authorities (CRIA) programs

Once approved, a 90-day process will have staff from both supervisors’ staffs working with the county leadership team to develop implementing regulations and guidelines for board approval in late April 2019. As written the incentives approved in April would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2018.