One of the best ways to make Austin more affordable is to ensure we have a diverse set of industries which provide local, skilled and the hard-to-employ talent the opportunity to compete for jobs that have a career ladder. The Austin City Council is considering adopting a revised economic incentive policy, expanding the previous one-size-fits-all policy. If the Austin Chamber of Commerce presents a company that meets the criteria for an incentive as set by City Council policy, will you vote to support incentivizing jobs for both small operators and large in our city? How will you monitor success with the provision requiring employment of the hard-to-employ?

Justin Jacobson

City Council, District 3

If these newly adopted incentives have strong tangible benefits for the community, I’m am more than open to considering them. I would prefer that our incentives be directed to smaller and locally owned businesses. Austin currently possesses many of desirable attributes that larger firms in sectors leading the economy want. I think it’s better to invest in those things, which all citizens can benefit from, than getting into a transactional situation of incentivizing large nation businesses. For tracking those that are more challenging to employe, we need to make sure we have the best data on this group. Are these folks having their employment needs met? Are these firms receiving incentives meeting their requirements? Are we connecting these two groups effectively? These are the kinds of question to charge the proper oversight departments and for council to make sure they are asking for regular updates.