Good evening all -
The past 8 days, Shakopee City Council has passed business incentives to create 230 new, good-paying jobs here in Shakopee within 24 months of completion (added for clarification 5/2/2012)! That is an amazing statistic of which I am very proud. These jobs were created with the help of Scott County and the Shakopee School Board. Here’s the lowdown:
- Tax Abatement was approved tonight for TryStar. TryStar is an amazing company currently located in Faribault, MN. They will be moving their high-end cable manufacturing facility here to Shakopee in the Deans Lake Development. They are relocating 55 high-paying manufacturing jobs and creating 25 new jobs all paying in excess of $19.97 per hour. Tax abatement helps bring businesses to Shakopee by reducing the taxes they will pay for a fixed amount of time. This plan reduces the property taxes for 15 years by $1 million dollars between the County and the City to bring high-paying jobs and increase our tax base.
- SanMar’s Tax Increment Financing was passed last week creating 150 brand new jobs (33 warehouse jobs no less than $16.50/hr & 117 no less than $9.00/hr above benefits) SanMar will build a warehouse facility on the north side of Canterbury Park. Basically, we as taxpayers bring jobs to Shakopee by helping build the warehouse and infrastructure with $2 million dollars of the future property taxes collected by the City, County and School District. Basically we forgo a portion of the future taxes to get a business here and producing in Shakopee as well as increase our future tax base. SanMar is having a ground-breaking ceremony on May 7 at 4 pm.
This is phenomenal news for the city of Shakopee and a credit to our hard-working city staff headed up by City Administrator Mark McNeill and Mr. Michael Leek in the Planning Department, past Mayors John Schmitt and Bill Mars both set the stage for these projects and the Shakopee Chamber of Commerce.
Word is beginning to get out that Shakopee is focused on Economic Development and leads are coming in for more projects to hopefully break ground in Shakopee.
KSTP Story from 5/2/2012
In other items tonight, we:
- Authorized hiring Office Mike Santos to fill the vacancy due to retirement.
- Amended the fence ordinance so you can repair your fence without getting dinged with a permit fee.
- Approved the Downtown Classic Car Cruise sponsored by Turtles Bar & Grill on June 1, 15, 29, July 13, 27, August 10 and 24.
Lastly, we adopted 12 priorities for Shakopee over the next 12 to 18 months. We held a goal setting session over two nights and here are our highest priority items.
- Budget and Fiscal Policy
- Infrastructure needs and funding
- Adequate staffing
- Economic Development
- Strategic Planning
- Annexation
- Transportation
- Fire Department
- Community Center
- Community ID
- Tribal Relations
- Rental Code Enforcement
Some of these items are overall goals and some are specific. This will be an evolving list and we have already begun to tackle some of the items. We’ll keep you posted.
As always, let me know your thoughts.
Have a great night!
Brad
Great news! It really does feel as if Shakopee is moving in a good direction! Thanks for your hard work and keeping us updated.