Incentive Zones

Enterprise Zone

An Enterprise Zone is a designated area within a city or county with an organized effort to revitalize areas suffering from disinvestment, underdevelopment, and economic decline. Enterprise Zones encourage private businesses to reinvest and rehabilitate these areas. 

In 1997, the Georgia General Assembly enacted the Enterprise Zone Employment Act recognizing the need for revitalization in many areas of Georgia. The State Enterprise Zone program intends to promote reinvestment along distressed business corridors by incentivizing property tax abatement and certain local fee waivers. Property tax abatement is graduated over a 10-year period for business investments that are located within an Enterprise Zone and must meet one of the following requirements:

  • Job Creation Incentive - Create and maintain five new full-time equivalent jobs at the time of the application to receive benefits.
  • Land Improvement Incentive - Invest in new residential construction or rehabilitation or other rehabilitation of an existing structure such that the value of the improvements exceeds the value of the land by a ratio of five to one according to the Tift County Tax Assessors valuation.

The Enterprise Zone is a local designation. For more information on the Enterprise Zone or questions about the application, please contact Jessica White, City Clerk, at 229-391-3970. 

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Opportunity Zone

Opportunity Zone encourages business development and job tax creation in Downtown Tifton's Opportunity Zone through $3,500 in job tax credits per job created.

If you are making a location or expansion decision for your business, check out what locating in an Opportunity Zone can mean for you. By locating in a local redevelopment area designated as an Opportunity Zone (OZ), a business can take advantage of the state's highest Job Tax Credit (JTC). Traditionally, job tax credits in Georgia are based on County Tier levels 1 through 4:

  • Tier 1 counties are considered the most distressed in the State and receive the highest credit amount of $3,500 per job
  • Tier 2 credit is $2,500 per job
  • Tier 3 credit is $1,250 per job
  • Tier 4 credit is $750 per job

By locating in an Opportunity Zone and creating 2 jobs, a business can maximize job tax credits to the State's highest benefits.

For more information on the Opportunity Zone, please contact Crystal Gaillard, Planning and Zoning Director, at 229-391-3950. To seek further details regarding the Opportunity Zone, visit the Georgia Department of Community Affairs website or contact Cherie Bennett, Georgia Department of Community Affairs. 

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Federal Opportunity Zone

The City of Tifton offers incentives in the designated Opportunity Zone and Enterprise Zone.

The Federal Opportunity Zone program promotes investment in low-income communities by providing tax benefits for committing capital gains to ventures in selected Low-Income Community Census Tracts. Tifton has one area with eligible Opportunity Zone incentives.