Despite getting tax breaks, some Fargo businesses’ hiring lagging
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The City of Fargo granted tax breaks to businesses in exchange for promised job creation. A new report states they are falling behind on hiring.
The tax breaks were given from 2016 to 2024 through the payments in lieu of taxes program, also known as PILOT.
Twenty-three companies received tax breaks. So far this year, the cohort reported creating and retaining 2,056 jobs, about 100 fewer than promised, according to a Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation report.
“We know the growth of this regional economy is going to be led by our ability to attract people here,” Joe Raso, FMEDC’s President and CEO, said at a recent meeting of the Fargo City Commission. “There just aren't enough humans in this market to fill the open jobs that we have, and that’s been the case for quite some time.”
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That’s not for a lack of trying, either. Tax break recipients raised their wages to an average of over $77,000 a year per worker, spending about $29 million more than expected, according to FMEDC’s report.
Still, Fargo officials shared their discontent at the city commission meeting.
“If somebody comes to us and asks for incentives and they don’t deliver, there needs to be some sort of consequence,” Commissioner John Strand said.
The city can opt to extend its job creation deadline or lower its hiring goals for companies individually. Businesses that don’t arrange a deal with the city will have to pay up to the full amount of tax incentives they received.
