Our approach is premised on innovation in design and execution of incentives packages; integration of multidisciplinary skills to provide seamless, cost-effective service; and independence in advice and representation. This approach allows us to meet our core mission of devising win/win strategies that create value for our clients while also helping communities achieve their economic development goals.
Here are a few examples that exemplify how we consistently identify or create opportunities that add value with unique solutions.
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Florida: On behalf of a strategic client in the financial services industry, we tracked and lobbied for amendments in a targeted-industry tax credit program. The program’s requirements limited the program to specified "technology" industry sectors, expressly excluding the FIRE sector. We obtained a concession: a financial services company may qualify if the technology content of its business was sufficiently compelling. We developed a methodology for analyzing the technology content of 1,500 jobs and structured an application that presented a "technology company" within a financial services firm, emphasizing the IT and e-commerce content of the business. The company was recently awarded a 20-year corporate franchise tax credit for $75 million in capital expenditures for a new facility in Florida, the first Investment Tax Credit awarded to a service company under this new program.
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Texas: A program that enabled certain beneficiaries of local tax abatement agreements to obtain rebates for a portion of ad valorem taxes paid to school districts was limited to property owners, excluding leaseholders. We researched the statutory basis for this exclusion and obtained a State Comptroller's opinion reversing this position, saving the relocation client $3.9 million.
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New Jersey: On behalf of a corporate retention client in New Jersey, we sought a sales tax exemption for certain technology purchases, notwithstanding the governing statute. (A competing incentives consultant, affiliated with the client's accountant, advised that the State would not agree to this approach on grounds that it had never done so before.) Based on a public policy argument that the statute is antiquated, duplicative and discouraged technology investment, we persuaded the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to offer a transaction-specific vehicle to exempt the client's purchases from the sales tax (i.e., in lieu of a broad statutory amendment). This saved $13 million in sales taxes on $220 million in purchases during a 10-year period.
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Upstate New York: We obtained a package of $24 million NPV for a 125,000 square foot data center for a financial services client. The bulk of this benefit was in sales tax abatements for equipment purchases over a 15-year period. This project was the first time the local Industrial Development Agency had utilized this technique.
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Florida: On behalf of a major financial services company, the firm developed an incentives strategy designed to augment its application for development approvals in Florida. The approvals were required to accommodate a planned relocation and future expansion. We developed and implemented a plan to use a computer simulation to identify the likely off-site traffic improvements required for approvals, and obtained public sector commitments to fund these improvements.
In multiple jurisdictions the firm has developed innovations in transaction structuring that significantly reduce transaction costs and agency fees, and ongoing reporting and compliance obligations.
