After the passage of the 4A Economic Development Sales Tax in 1992 by the citizens of Brownsville came the subsequent funding of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC), which was formed to oversee the disbursement of a ¼ cent sales tax collected in Brownsville. The GBIC board, appointed by the Brownsville City Commission, approves funding for job creation incentives and various grant programs related to infrastructure and education.
A qualifying company could expect Job Creation Incentives from the GBIC. The Job Creation Incentives are performance based and are usually paid after anniversary date reviews. The program seeks to reward those companies that pay wages in excess of $10 per hour and provide benefits to their employees.
To qualify for incentives, the applying company must be willing to provide financial data on their company, including and not limited to audited financials and federal tax returns for the previous three years. All information is handled confidentially. Once due diligence and an economic impact analysis are completed on the company, an incentives offer is prepared and submitted for approval by the GBIC board of directors.
Job Creation Incentives are used to support companies that are new to Brownsville as well as established local companies that are considered to be primary job creators. Due to the nature of the incentives and the due diligence required, start-up companies are not normally considered for incentives under the Job Creation Incentives program. Other programs may be more suitable in support of start-ups.
Other incentive type programs may also be considered in Brownsville, such as Tax Abatements (both five and ten years) that abate property taxes over the life of the abatement agreement normally at a rate of 50%. Entities that have traditionally supported tax abatements and that can legally do so are:
