By Patrick Adrian
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NEWPORT — The Small Business Administration (SBA) held an informational forum Wednesday night to educate local businesses and lenders about the benefits and resources to build businesses in Newport.
About 20 members from the business community attended a panel presentation by the SBA New Hampshire at the Sugar River Bank Community Room on Main Street to learn about an array of local, state and federal resources available to entrepreneurs and businesses to invest in Newport.
Since Newport is one of the 27 Opportunity Zones in New Hampshire, investors in the town are eligible to receive tax credits and priority status for funding from approximately 160 grant programs.
The Opportunity Zone program, which was authorized under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, incentivizes investors through tax deferments and credits to develop businesses and projects in low-income areas, with the aim to stimulate economic growth.
“The proof will be in the pudding” about whether Opportunity Zones are an effective tax incentive or not, New England Regional Administrator for the SBA Wendell Davis said. But Davis said he is encouraged by the progress so far, including in Lincoln, Maine, a former paper mill town that recently attracted a North Carolina manufacturer, which plans to invest $31 million to open a factory that will employ about 100 people.
Davis said he is also encouraged by the program’s long-term incentives for businesses to keep their investments in Opportunity Zones for multiple years, a change from prior tax-incentive programs like the New Market Tax Credit program established in 2000. Without greater benefits to invest long-term, some developers created cheaply-developed projects and pulled their funding once they received the tax credits, according to Davis.
Stephen Heavener of the Capital Regional Development Council (CRDC) pointed to a successful example of new market tax credits in the Claremont mill project, which renovated formerly shuttered mill buildings. These buildings now house The Common Man Restaurant and Inn, as well as technology company Red River.
The CRDC is among New Hampshire’s 10 regional development organizations which assist state municipalities with economic planning and growth. Each organization serves a different county. For instance, Sullivan County is served by the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission. The CRDC provides a variety of loans to small businesses to gap financing for their projects, including direct loans and brownfield cleanup loans.
By assisting businesses with funds outside the bank’s criteria, “[the CRDC] can help make [a lender agreement] doable that otherwise won’t be doable,” Heavener said.
Speaking to economic revitalization, Heavener told the attendees that the resources are only part of the recipe.
“Your town needs a champion,” he said. “We provide the resources, but we don’t drive the train. We find the most successful towns have someone in the town or city all the time, a champion of the town who brings the resources in and puts his or her own money into the deal.”
In addition to Heavener, the SBA panel included speakers from a diverse group of business-essential service providers.
Dan Osbourne, workforce development coordinator at River Valley Community College, shared a number of business-support services available through the college, from workforce training programs and internships. Some of these services can also be funded through grants obtainable through Opportunity Zone preferences.
Molly Taylor of Business and Economic Affairs said that her state department partners assist small businesses with the process to become government contractors or exporters or apply for grants from organizations like the Northern Borders Regional Development Commission, which funds projects that benefit communities through economic development, infrastructure or increasing recreation, travel and tourism.
Business advisors Ladd Kautz and Vardhan Bajpai spoke about their organization, the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center, which provides business counseling and education to entrepreneurs related to starting or growing a business. Bajpai said that examples of support include helping a business owner create an effective marketing strategy or an aspiring entrepreneur build a business plan around his or her idea. He said the service is free and confidential, and provides a diverse network of investment experts.
Gretta Johansson of the New Hampshire SBA said that the district agency is plans to host two larger, regional events in the coming year for businesses and developers interested in investing in Opportunity Zones. The SBA has not decided on the locations of these events but hopes to place them to draw most developers in the state to at least one.
“So what we want you to know now is to stay tune, and share the little bit you have learned with people you know, their developers and investors, or people who have projects that might fit this,” Johansson told the attendees.
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