Middletown City Council is planning to dissolve its Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) and create a municipal port authority to “enable the city to address its unique economic development needs,” the Journal-News reports. Port authorities have the same powers as CICs as well as additional powers including creating sales tax exemption programs, loan funding at competitive rates, directly incentivizing specific community needs such as additional infrastructure, and facilitating job creation projects, according to the article. City Economic Development Director Chris Xeil Lyons “said the tax-exempt status of port authorities has the advantage of passing savings on to private economic development projects, thus making complex projects possible that might not otherwise happen.” For more, read the full article.
Municipal port authority would expand Middletown’s economic development options
