Business tax exemptions on the ballot

A referendum on the 2023 Oviedo ballot asks voters to decide whether the city can grant tax exemptions to new and expanding businesses that are expected to create full-time jobs in Oviedo.

The time period and number of jobs that must be sustained will depend on the performance agreement that will be approved by the City Council at a later date.

An Economic Development Ad-Valorem Exception will be offered to qualified relocating or expanding businesses. The industries this applies to in Oviedo includes communications; computer software and hardware; corporate headquarters; finance and insurance; laser technology; medical labs and technology; photonics; professional, scientific, and technical services; research, development, and testing; simulation, modeling, and training; and space technology, aviation, and aerospace.

This program was created to encourage the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) to build the Oviedo Medical Center, which opened in January 2017. City Council granted the HCA an exemption under the now expired program as it fell into the qualifying categories listed above. HCA paid an estimated $1.1 million in total taxes in 2022. The organization is listed as Oviedo’s top tax payer. To date, this has been the only business the program has been used for. 

Only the city is allowed to use the program under the referendum. The City Council would approve performance agreements, contracts that lay out the requirements of the employee’s expected performance while on the job, to qualified companies who are allowed the exemption.

An expanding business is any business which establishes about 10 or more full-time positions and creates tangible items for sale, or establishes 25 or more full-time positions for commercial and industrial business operations.

A new business is one which establishes 10 or more full-time positions and creates tangible items for sale and is made up of a manufacturing plant or is a target industry business, or establishes 25 or more full-time positions where the amount in sales a company has in total is less than 0.50 to how much in sales they have at a particular site.

find more in the voter guide

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Check our Voter Guide 2023