Primary Employer Incentive Guidelines

The Primary Employer Incentive Guidelines are part of the Town of Windsor’s Economic Development Program and are a competitive incentive program offered to companies proposing to locate or expand in the Town of Windsor. All incentives provided under the program require Town Board approval in each case and are administered by Town of Windsor staff. The purpose of the program is to aid economic development within the town by providing assistance to qualified primary employers who plan to establish new operations or facilities in the Town of Windsor or significantly expand existing operations or facilities in the town.

A primary employer is any company which exports at least 50% of their goods or services outside the region. The Region is currently designated as Larimer and Weld Counties.


Purpose

The purpose of the Primary Employer Incentive Guidelines program is to attract investment and create primary jobs in the Town of Windsor, thus providing an identifiable public benefit, justifying the Town’s expenditure of taxpayer revenue and/or waiver of such revenue.

This can be done through the following approaches:
  • Target projects with the greatest impact on economic development in Windsor. 
  • Provide incentives to stimulate economic development which otherwise would not occur or which would otherwise be delayed longer than is expedient for the maximum public benefit.
  • Provide a source of funding for projects not eligible for other forms of economic development incentives for any of the following reasons: Project timing; Project size—the amount needed is too small to justify application costs for other types of assistance; Traditional bank financing is unavailable or unnecessarily costly 

Eligible Participants

The applicant must be a qualified business able to do business in the State of Colorado. Any request by a qualified company must be consistent with the Town of Windsor strategic plan as adopted and in effect at the time of application. All incentivized projects must meet the requirements set out by the Town, including, but not limited to:

Primary Employers: New & Expanding
  • Creation of primary jobs with a facility-wide aggregate payroll equal to at least 110% of county average for all new hires
  • Minimum capital investment of $500,000
  • Pay 80% facility-wide aggregate of health insurance premiums
  • Provide company information for an Economic Impact Analysis to be run by the town
  • Prepare to provide on-going company information for monitoring purposes
Application Procedures
The Business Development Manager shall provide potential applicants with pre-application and Economic Impact Analysis forms. Initial contact for application may also be done by phone or in person with other members of the Windsor Town staff, including the Town Manager. Company information provided for the Economic Impact Analysis must be current and will not be valid if the information is more than 120 days old from the date on the application. Pre-applications will be reviewed by town staff. If the project appears to meet the eligibility requirements of the Town, the applicant will receive written notice and a request to submit a final application, including a written request to the Town Manager. Final applications
approved by the Town staff shall be presented to the Town Board as scheduled by the Town Manager. The Town Board and Town staff may solicit proposals for projects determined to be of crucial importance to the economic development of the Town of Windsor.

Available Incentives
Development Fees, Sales & Use Taxes: The following fees and/or taxes may be waived, deferred or reimbursed in full or in part upon approval of the Town Board. These include: 
  • Construction materials use tax
  • Water/sewer tap fees
  • Storm water drainage fee
  • Town administrative portion of the building permit fee

Property Tax Rebates
(minimum $1,000,000.00 investment required)  Pursuant to Section 31-15-903, C.R.S., up to fifty percent (50%) of property tax revenue received by the Town for up to ten (10) years, attributable to personal property placed into service during the first year of operations.

Expedited Development Review
Expedited development review and fast tracking of commercial project development reviews.

Town of Windsor Training Dollars
On a case by case basis the Town of Windsor may consider a contributing dollar for dollar match of the Colorado First/Existing Training Grant Program up to a maximum of $10,000 per company.

Sponsorship of Private Activity Bonds

Cash Incentives

Cash incentives may be offered, based on the creation and retention of primary jobs for one year, if the wage is above the required 110% of the county average.

Community Development Block Grant
Access to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for infrastructure

Restrictions
The Town of Windsor will not provide incentives to companies for relocation of existing employment from other local communities.

The Town will only provide incentives for new net qualifying primary jobs. The Town of Windsor will not provide cash incentives for job creation to companies receiving cash incentives from the State of Colorado for job creation.

If any requirements are not met, the entire incentive or a portion of the Incentive may be recalled. Projects only located within the Town of Windsor municipal boundaries are eligible for this program. Those projects located outside of the Town limits must agree to annex into the Town if the property ever becomes contiguous with the Town Limits. The parameters outlined in the program are for guidance purposes only and each project will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Conflict of Interest

Elected and appointed officials and any Town employees, or agents shall not directly or indirectly be eligible for incentives or inducements offered under this program. This prohibition shall continue for 24 months after an individual’s elected, appointed or employment relationship with the Town concludes.

Amendment of Primary Employer Incentive Program


Guidelines
The Windsor Town Board has the authority to amend these Primary Employer Incentive Program Guidelines.