District 5 Celebrates New Economic Development Incentive Rules Package

Published on December 12, 2024

The new ordinances cover future San Antonio incentive and tax abatement guidelines.

SAN ANTONIO (December 12, 2024) – Today City Council approved two new ordinances related to the City of San Antonio’s Economic Development Incentive Fund (EDIF) and Tax Abatement Guidelines. 

District 5 Councilmember Teri Castillo, who serves on the Economic Development & Workforce Committee, voted to approve these ordinances. The Committee worked collaboratively with labor to ensure that key provisions related to local hiring efforts, prevailing wages, and safety standards were updated with the future of San Antonio at the forefront. 

The following considerations were included when City Council voted on the two respective ordinances:

• Local hiring provisions – Contracted companies must demonstrate an effort to hire 30 percent of workers residing in the City of San Antonio, the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ), or Bexar County.
• Safety standards – All General Contractors and contract companies must provide safety programs, which include the OSHA-10 safety course, or equivalent, and address heat illness prevention.
• Prevailing wage reporting – During construction of projects with an incentive/tax abatement agreement, salaries of all employees (including contract employees and employees hired by contractors) must be reported to the City of San Antonio. 

“With San Antonio on the cusp of historic redevelopment and growth, we must ensure that the workers who build San Antonio receive protections and competitive wages,” stated Councilmember Castillo. “The passage of the new incentive updates demonstrates that we can build our city while also building up San Antonio’s working families.” 

The City’s tax abatement guidelines and economic development incentive fund go into effect on January 1, 2025.