City OKs Incentive Program for New Business

City officials are hoping a little cash incentive will motivate residents and other businesses to put out the word that Muskego is open for business.

A plan that was first presented by Community Development Director Jeff Muenkel to the Community Development Authority about a month ago has received the final blessing of the Common Council to move forward.

Taking an existing program from the city of Grandview MO, which Muenkel says is a similarly sized community to Muskego, the CDA will offer a finders fee for any business or resident that brings a new business to the city.

Muenkel told the council the program could "start immediately," calling the program "just another mechanism to generate new business to the city."

Some features of the Grandview program include:

• Rewards for for successful leads, paid when the business opens. Rewards are determined by the size of the business (number of employees) and the businesses investment in property and capital equipment, and range from $1,000 to $5,000.
• The city retaining the sole right to determine if suggested prospects are promising leads that should be pursued.
• Restrictions on who is eligible to nominate businesses. Generally city employees involved directly with business development and elected officials were not eligible to receive "finders fees."
• An oversight board to manage the program.

The details of Muskego's version program still need fine tuning, but no tax dollars will be used to fund it.

Current city officials or board members would not be able to participate in the program. At the request of Alderman Dan Soltysiak, those who leave office would not be allowed to participate for the next two years.