SALISBURY — For the second time in less than a year, the Salisbury City Council approved sweeping changes to its investment grant program, this time adding a scoring system that incentivizes companies paying more to employees, offering more investment in the city and implementing sustainable design elements.

In May of 2024, the council voted to modify the investment program for the first time, lowering the tax return from a maximum of 85 percent to the current maximum of 50 percent.

Tuesday’s move expands on the prior year’s changes, adding a scoring system to the city’s grant program, making it so that companies that score higher in the following categories receive a larger grant:

Direct full-time job creation

• 0 to 25 job – 0 points
• 25 to 99 job – 1 point
• 100 to 249 – 2 points
• 250 to 500 – 3 points
• 501 or more – 4 points

New capital investment

• Less than $5 million – 0 points
• $5 to $10 million – 1 point
• $10 to $50 million – 2 points
• $51 to $100 million – 3 points
• $100 to $499 million – 4 points
• $500 million and more – 5 points

Median wage of created jobs

• Under 90 percent of the county’s average wage – 0 points
• 90 to 110 percent of the county’s average wage – 1 point
• 110 to 150 percent of the county’s average wage – 2 points
• Over 150 percent of the county’s average wage – 3 points

Expansion of existing Salisbury company

• The expansion of a company already existing in the city limits is worth one point.

Targeted industry

• If the company is in advanced manufacturing, life sciences and healthcare, financial and professional services or information technology it is worth one point.

Healthcare

• If the company provides healthcare and pays at least 50 percent of the monthly premiums it is worth one point.

Sustainable design

The new scoring system adds another internal scoring system for sustainable design practices, with companies that score less than eight points receiving zero points, between nine and 16 points receiving one point and 17 points or more receiving two points. The design practices that receive points include:

• Level II electric vehicle charging stations – one point per station, up to three
• Smart meters tracking electrical use – two points
• Carbon-free heating and cooling (air or water sourced heat pumps) – five points
• On-site carbon-free electricity generation – five points
• “Solar ready” building – one point
• Native landscaping – one point
• Green rooftop – five points
• Transit access – three points

Companies that score less than five points are not eligible for tax incentives. Companies that score between five and eight points are eligible for a 40 percent tax return for five years. Companies that score between nine and 12 points are eligible for a 45 percent tax return for five years. Companies that score between 13 and 17 points are eligible for a 50 percent tax return for five years.

For the most part, the new incentives program follows the Rowan County program, which was approved in 2023. The only change made by the city was adding the sustainable design practices category and accordingly adjusting the total scoring requirements upwards.

Downtown Development Director Sada Stewart Troutman said that the change was made at the request of the city council, who directed staff to revise the policy at the 2023 planning retreat. She added that the changes were discussed with the Rowan County EDC, who voiced their approval and said that they appreciated the added consistency between the county and city.

Council Member David Post voiced his concern with the numbers used in the categories, specifically the upper limits of $500 million in investments. He said that he was worried that the city, which represents a much smaller area of land, would not be able to attract the larger and more expensive development projects like Macy’s in China Grove and Chick-fil-A in Kannapolis, making certain point levels effectively unobtainable.

“They’re playing on a bigger deck. They’ve got more interstate intersections to deal with and they’ve got four corners on all of those intersections that we don’t have. I understand what you’re saying, but it seems to me that we should have an incentive plan that is focused on what we can do rather than what the county is trying to do because we’re at different economic statuses right now,” said Post.

Post also added that he believed focusing on those larger numbers could discourage smaller businesses, such as his own business he moved to Salisbury from Washington, D.C., from seeking the incentives.

City manager Jim Greene Jr. and Mayor Pro Tem Tamara Sheffield responded to Post’s concerns by stating that the incentives policy is a living document, meaning that it can and will be revisited constantly if city staff feels like the upper scoring limits are unreasonable for Salisbury.

“We’re focusing on these corporations that were coming in, the larger corporations, and making sure that if we’re giving them a tax credit break, this is what you need to do in order to receive those credits. It was really not to disenfranchise a company coming in, but if you wanted to come in, instead of getting 75 percent, you’re only going to get 40 based off of certain standards you have to meet. That way, we’re sure that the companies that come here are fully committed,” said Council Member Harry McLaughlin.

After the discussion, three members of the city council voted to approve the incentive changes, with Post stating that he was abstaining from the vote. Technically, that means the change was approved unanimously, as state law says that a refusal to vote is counted as an affirmative vote.