The City Council voted 5-0 Monday to support a job creation program aimed at providing incentive funds to entice relocating employees to build or buy a home in Bartlesville.
The Bartlesville Development Authority will launch the program with incentives offered to 20-25 ConocoPhillips employees relocating to Bartlesville following the company’s acquisition of the Midland, Texas-based Concho Resources.
“As a result of ConocoPhillips’ Concho acquisition, the Bartlesville facility anticipates 20-25 professional employees and their families to relocate for employment in Bartlesville in 2021,” BDA President David Wood said in a memo to the council. “The challenge/opportunity is to attract these 20-25 families as residents — with the associated economic impacts, sales and property taxes — in an extremely tight housing market.”
Relocating COP/Concho employees will be offered:
- $10,000 cash assistance for the purchase of a primary residence within the city limits
- $20,000 cash assistance for new construction of a primary residence within the city limits
- $10,000 cash assistance for new construction of a primary residence outside the city limits but within the Bartlesville School District
Wood said the idea for the program has been around for a while, necessitated when, around 2013 it became apparent that Bartlesville was losing a substantial number of new, professional-level employees to surrounding communities — most notably Owasso. As a result, the economic benefits associated with the new jobs in the form of sales tax and property tax was occurring in other taxing jurisdictions.
“In short, Bartlesville was heavily incentivizing new jobs but missing out on the associated revenue these jobs produce,” he said.
Wood said the BDA commissioned professional market research and determined the absence of retail attractions — national brand stores, bars, restaurants, nightlife — was the primary cause, followed by the low availability of higher-end rental housing.
“This led BDA to expand its mission and engage retail attraction, resulting in the construction of Silver Lake Village, the redevelopment of Eastland, Kmart, and the attraction of other individual brands,” he said.
Wood said Bartlesville is experiencing an “acute shortage of available homes,” a problem the BDA hopes will be at least partially remedied with the incentive program.
“While building lots exist, there has been no interest from developers to construct speculative homes – at least at a scale that would ameliorate the problem,” he said. “While recognizing the doubling of assistance for new construction within the city limits, these funds not only assure the capture of an inbound revenue stream, but directly bolster the available housing stock.”
Further, he said, sales taxes on a new home constructed in Bartlesville will produce a one-time sales tax boost of approximately $3,400 against the $20,000 of cash incentive. Homes built outside the city limits but within the Bartlesville Public School District “guarantees that Bartlesville’s merchants will receive the overwhelming portion of new retail spending, with the City of Bartlesville as the beneficiary of the 3.4 percent sales taxes.”
To quality for the program, the following criteria must be met:
- Employer must be a “primary industry,” defined as deriving more than 50 percent of revenue from outside Bartlesville
- The employer must be pursuing recruitment of 10 or more employees under a specific opportunity (not one-off employment growth expectations)
- Inbound jobs must be “Quality Jobs” qualified under State guidelines.
- From inception, the program is valid for one year.
- Cash is only disbursed at real estate closing (primary residence of inbound employee).