Newsroom Reel

The Rural Economic Development Incentive (REDI) is a unique grant given to businesses located anywhere—whether urban or rural, remote or local—that will hire skilled workers living in rural Utah. The grant gives businesses $4,000 to $6,000 for each new full-time position paying at least 125% of the rural county’s average wage. Businesses other than construction, staffing, retail or public utilities are eligible.

Targeted Business Tax Credit (TBTC) Encourages Investment In Utah’s Rural Communities. The TBTC program encourages local businesses to make investments in rural communities. Businesses with projects that meet established criteria may receive up to $100,000 in a refundable tax credit. The total available for all TBTC projects in 2019 is $300,000.

Travel Trade and new office website. Recently our office attended the US Travel Association's IPW travel trade show. Travel trade shows are a mechanism for suppliers including destination marketing organizations (DMO’s), like ourselves, to meet with travel buyers (tour operators, travel agents, etc). IPW is unique in the sense that it brings together travel buyers and media from more than 70 countries, allowing us to build relationships, educate, and promote our region to existing and future buyers.

The County supports collaborative community led efforts to effectively manage commercial and residential development, and redevelopment, to meet future growth in San Juan County During the 2016 legislative session, important structural changes affecting Utah Code Title 17C were made: Removing previous redevelopment project tracks (EDA, URA, CDA) and streamlining them into one track called Community Reinvestment Areas (CRAs), Preventing the creation of a new project area if 51% of property owners contest, Amending annual reporting requirements, Requiring 10-20% allocation for affordable housing in project area budgets CRAs are the newest public tax increment financing tool that aims to assist with financing redevelopment activities from real and personal property taxable value increases. They are a flexible tool which can be used to achieve a number of redevelopment criteria. Typically, they are used to remove property blight, add new jobs, or develop vacant land.

In December 2017, San Juan County Economic Development developed a Strategic Plan outlining the county's strategy pertaining to economic development for the next ten year. The plan focuses on five key areas of focus including: broadband, transportation, diversity of economy and workforce, business expansion and retention, and the celebration of culture and heritage.