Economic Leader: ITEP Keeps Businesses Here [VIDEO]

Scott Martinez of the North Louisiana Economic Partnership, tells 101.7 / 710 KEEL's Robert J Wright and Erin McCartney that the Industrial Tax Exemption Program remains important to keeping manufacturing companies in this area and applications for renewal by businesses should be fast-tracked.

Approval for the Industrial Tax Exemption Program applications was recently handed over to municipal and parish governments via executive order by Governor John Bel Edwards. Those requests by local manufacturers who meet the exemption requirements will now be decided individually by the Shreveport City Council, the Caddo parish Commission, the Caddo Parish School Board and the Caddo Parish Sheriff. Those same governing bodies in cities, towns and parishes across the state will be charge of renewal approval for their respective areas.

Martinez, specifically mentioning the move by Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator to nix the exemption application by Shreveport's Inferno Manufacturing, says that ITEP exemptions are not large, but go a long way in helping area manufacturers expand and make sure that those companies stay in our area.