Why Rockdale?

 The Development Authority of Rockdale County (DARC) offers of a variety of economic incentives to companies interested in moving to or expanding within Rockdale County. These incentives include (but are not limited to):

1. For residential development, DARC will act as the Issuer of a developer’s tax-exempt bonds. The income on these bonds are not subject to taxation by the IRS and, therefore, carry lower interest rates and represent a lower cost of capital.
2. Tax abatement: working with local government, DARC will negotiate the abatement or postponement of payment of local property taxes. This is accomplished by DARC issuing taxable bonds for the development of a project and acting as owner of the completed project while leasing the property back to the company. As owners, DARC is not subject to property taxation. This saving is passed along to the company for a negotiated period of time.
3. Support from local approval entities:
   1. Through DARC, local approval processes may be expedited—saving money and time during the development process.
   2. DARC may also negotiate waiver or discounts on certain local fees (permitting, impact, utilities, etc.).
4. Special financing: DARC can serve as Issuer and Structuring Agent for Tax Allocation District (“TAD”) financing.
5. State and local incentives:
   1. QuickStart Employee Training is the number one workforce training program in the country. QuickStart develops and delivers fully customized, strategic workforce solutions for qualified companies investing in Georgia. Services include Pre-employment assessment, customized post-employment and job-specific training, strategic and customized workforce consultation.
   2. Retraining Tax Credits: mitigates the cost of retraining existing employees so that companies can realize the full value of eligible new technology investments.
   3. Investment Tax Credits: Rockdale County qualifies as one of the counties in Georgia eligible to provide an investment tax credit of from 1% to 5% for certain companies which invest at least $100,000 in a new or existing manufacturing or telecom facility in Rockdale County.
   4. Job Creation Tax Credits: New and expanding companies may earn Job Tax Credits for creating new jobs in Rockdale County. These credits can effectively eliminate a company’s corporate income tax liability and, possibly reduce the company’s payroll withholding obligations.
   5. Quality Jobs Tax Credit: Companies may be eligible for Quality Jobs Tax Credits (QJTC’s) if they create and maintain net new jobs that pay at least 110% of the county’s average wage. The QJTC value ranges from $2,500 to $5,000 per job, per year, for up to five years.
   6. Tax Exemptions: Rockdale offers state sales and use tax exemptions on a wide range of expenditures that manufacturing facilities are already making for their operations including for inventory. In addition, we also provide certain tax exemptions for data centers, high tech companies and for distribution centers.