Local leaders to apply for Opportunity Zone inclusion
WORLAND – Representatives from the City of Worland, Town of Ten Sleep and Washakie County will meet with the Washakie Development Association today to discuss a new federal program to allow reinvestment in rural communities, under federal legislation passed in 2017.
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WORLAND – Representatives from the City of Worland, Town of Ten Sleep and Washakie County will meet with the Washakie Development Association today to discuss a new federal program to allow reinvestment in rural communities, under federal legislation passed in 2017.
Opportunity Zones are a community development program established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities. The program provides a tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into Opportunity Funds that are dedicated to investing into Opportunity Zones designated by the governors of every U.S. state and territory.
Washakie County representatives will complete a worksheet provided by the National Governor’s Association, to be returned to the governor’s office no later than March 23, outlining the county’s opportunity zone investments, including tangible property (infrastructure) and stock or equity in business within the zone.
The program uses low-income community census tracts as the basis for determining areas eligible for Opportunity Zone designation. The governors of every U.S. state and territory have 90-120 days from Dec. 22, 2017, to designate up to 25 percent of the total number of low-income census tracts in a state as Opportunity Zones. In Wyoming, Governor Matt Mead has until April 24 to make a state recommendation to qualify.
To qualify, states must have census tracts or areas that have income lower than 8o percent of the state median income, or a poverty level greater than 20 percent. For a state with less than 100 low-income census tracts, the governor can designate up to 25 tracts. Wyoming has less than 100 tracts, so the governor can designate up to 25 opportunity zones.
A population census tract that is not low-income may be designated as an opportunity zone if the median family income of the tract does not exceed 125 percent of the median family income. Therefore, not more than two of Wyoming’s 25 opportunity zones can qualify under this exception.
