Incentives & Assistance

Business Climate

The city of Waverly offers a favorable business climate. The State of Iowa has a tax structure that is business-friendly, and the community colleges in the area provide a number of employee training opportunities through the State of Iowa employee training programs. Local incentives can include tax increment financing, tax rebatement, and revolving loan funds. Iowa is a "right to work" state.

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Iowa Corporate Tax Structure

Iowa's corporate tax structure provides several advantages to businesses that locate in the state, including:

• Iowa Corporate income tax is based only on the percentage of net sales income within the state of Iowa. There is no Iowa corporate income tax on profit from out of state sales.

• Iowa corporate income tax may be reduced or eliminated by state tax credit programs.

Other tax advantages include:

• No personal property tax for corporate inventories of goods-in-process, raw materials or salable goods.
• No property tax on industrial machinery, equipment or computers.
• No sales or use tax on purchases of industrial machinery, equipment and computers used for manufacturing or to process data by insurance companies, financial institutions or certain commercial enterprises.
• No sales tax on purchases of electricity or natural gas used directly in the manufacturing process.

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Revolving Loan Funds

Waverly Area Development Fund 

This revolving loan fund is primarily intended to be used for gap financing for commercial, industrial, or retail businesses in Waverly, Bremer County, and Shell Rock. The stated purpose of this fund is to retain and create employment opportunities, leverage other public and private investments, facilitate economic growth, and encourage industrial, commercial, and retail development.

Waverly Area Development Brochure
Waverly Area Development Application

For additional information on this revolving loan fund please contact:

Waverly Economic Development
Connie Tolan, Planning & Development Specialist
Phone: 319-352-9210
Email: ctolan@waverlyia.com

INREDC Revolving Loan Fund

The Iowa Northland Regional Economic Development Commission has funding available through their Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). The loan fund is intended to serve as gap financing for projects that may not qualify for funding through regular channels and is designed to assist eligible businesses with fixed asset acquisition, inventory and working capital needs.  

INREDC Loan Fund
INREDC Loan Fund Application Form

For additional information please contact:
Isaiah Corbin
or
Brian Schoon

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Assistance from Iowa Economic Development Authority

The State of Iowa offers a number of financial assistance programs to assist in starting or growing a business in Iowa. The Waverly Economic Development team can assist you with the steps required to apply for state programs, including assistance with completing the Pre-Application Project Questionnaire and Financial Assistance Application.

High Quality Jobs Program

The High Quality Jobs (HQJ) Program provides qualifying businesses assistance to offset some of the costs incurred to locate, expand or modernize an Iowa facility. This flexible program includes loans, forgivable loans, tax credits, exemptions and/or refunds. The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) offers this program to promote growth in businesses which employ Iowans in jobs defined as high-quality by state statute.

Workforce Training Programs

Industrial New Jobs Training Program - 260E - Assists businesses creating new positions with training for new employees. Eligible businesses may be new to Iowa, expanding the Iowa workforce or relocating to the state.

Iowa Jobs Training Program - 260F - Provides job training services to current employees of eligible businesses.

New Jobs Tax Credit

The New Jobs Tax Credit is a one-time corporate income tax credit available to qualifying businesses that participate in the New Jobs Training (260E) Program and increase their workforce by at least 10%.

Apprenticeships & Internships

Registered Apprenticeship Program - There are more than 1,000 occupations eligible for apprenticeship training grants.

Student Internship Program - Grants to small and medium-sized companies in targeted industries to support internship programs.

STEM Internship Program - Grants to Iowa companies for internship programs in STEM fields.

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City of Waverly Financial Incentive Programs

The City of Waverly will consider the use of financial incentive programs including City, State and Federal economic development funds, tax increment financing, public/private partnerships and other tools in order to increase economic activity, help create high quality jobs, lower unemployment, increase the property tax base, increase tax revenues, provide entrepreneurial opportunities, encourage the development of workforce housing and revitalize underutilized or blighted areas.

The City of Waverly shall work to attract, recruit, retain, foster and develop businesses that are new to our region through the use of incentives.  Projects requesting City financial assistance will be subject to a financial analysis to determine if financial assistance from the City is appropriate and necessary. The analysis will include an examination of other financing sources for project costs, with evaluation of the developer's ability to complete the project without incentives. 

The use of TIF rebates shall be considered highly preferable to the alternative "cash up-front" TIF.  The City shall use various evaluative tools including established benefit spreadsheets, and other performance tools to evaluate the use of economic incentives, and each project shall be evaluated according to its unique factors.   When incentive programs are used, they will be used to maximize the benefits to the City of Waverly. The dollar amount and time duration of the incentive shall be the smallest amount necessary to achieve the maximum amount of city benefit as determined by the City.

The City will not actively recruit businesses from other cities and counties within our region unless a business is seeking to expand or a business is considering relocation outside the region. Should businesses from within our region wish to locate in Waverly, we will notify our neighboring jurisdiction of the interest.  It will be our general practice to not provide economic incentives to businesses wishing to relocate from another jurisdiction within our region.

Important Considerations for Financial Assistance

In return for public financial assistance, developers will be expected to meet some or all of the following standards:

1. Creation and retention of high quality jobs. The City of Waverly uses the State's eligibility criteria for the High Quality Jobs Program in considering local incentives.
2. Property development, new and expansions, including commercial, industrial, residential and retail, to grow the City's property tax base.
3. Projects achieving public purposes as detailed in the comprehensive plan, Urban Renewal Area planning documents, and/or the City Council Strategic Plan.
4. The redevelopment of underutilized and/or blighted properties.
5. Residential projects that address housing needs as identified by current housing studies.
6. Developer equity (not including debt) to be equal to or greater than the public financing requested (including local, state and federal).
7. Achieve high quality architectural and site design consistent with a community vision for such development.
8. Offer energy efficiency and sustainability features beyond what is required through relevant building codes.

Eligibility for TIF Financing

To be eligible for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) a developer must show a public benefit from the project and a financial gap to fill. The City may provide gap financing to projects in designated areas meeting public policy goals. Projects must be structured so that private debt is maximized and developer equity yields a fair return while not providing undue enrichment to the developer. City financial participation in development projects should not exceed developer equity.

Once a project appears to show a reasonable financial gap which could be funded with City assistance, City staff must 1) amend the appropriate urban renewal plan to include the project (if necessary) and 2) negotiate a development agreement that among other things, stipulates the type of funding-- rebate or cash up front and a minimum assessment of the property to ensure that the City is repaid.

Developers who receive incentives will be expected to enter into development agreements which delineate the terms, conditions, understandings, expected results and the performance measures required for receiving incentives.  For those situations where cash is transferred up-front, security may be required.  Performance measures such as minimum property tax assessments; job retention and job creation shall be monitored and enforced, including provisions for repayment of up-front incentives and the refusal to pay rebates if performance requirements are not met.

City's Application for Financial Assistance

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Additional Business Resources 

The UNI Small Business Development Center (Updated Link: https://jpec.uni.edu/programs/uni-small-business-development-center) provides no-cost, confidential business counseling and technical advice to entrepreneurs. Their service is customized, depending on the client's individual circumstances.

The SBDC at UNI provides customized one-on-one business consulting. Appointments are confidential and provided at no cost. Their advisors focus on real-world small business needs, including:

• Startup assistance
• Business planning
• Accounting
• Human Resources
• Marketing
• Sales
• Information on local and statewide resources
• And much more

While the SBDC provides no direct funding to businesses, they do help clients preparing to seek financing.

UNI’s SBDC serves a nine-county region of Northeast Iowa including:  Butler, Bremer, Buchanan, Black Hawk, Chickasaw, Fayette, Grundy, Howard and Tama Counties.  It is part of a state-wide network of 15 centers providing high quality support to small businesses across the state.  Additional resources and information about the SBDC network can be found at iowasbdc.org

Amy Dutton, Regional Director
P: (319)273-4328;
amy.dutton@uni.edu
8120 Jennings Drive, Suite 13
Cedar Falls, IA 50613

Iowa Workforce Development

Iowa Workforce Development (Link: https://workforce.iowa.gov/employers) is a one-stop resource for employers. Their team can provide one-on-one assistance with a host of questions, whether you’re looking for help with recruiting, tax credits to hire new employees, customized training opportunities, or detailed information about your labor market.  

Niki Lizel, Business Engagement Consultant
P: (319) 235-2123 Ext 41309
nicole.litzel@iwd.iowa.gov
3420 University Avenue
Waterloo, IA 50701

Iowa Source Link

Iowa Source Link provides a host of online resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Find valuable resources such as how-to guides for starting a business, funding opportunities, expanding your business, starting a food truck, and much more on their website at: https://www.iasourcelink.com/