WEYBURN – It was a long time in the making, but the efforts of many people will hopefully yield a positive result for the City of Weyburn’s business community.
Council approved a new commercial incentive program for the City of Weyburn that is aimed at revitalizing and rejuvenating businesses.
The program took a while to put together, but as it covers a wide range of incentives aimed at the business community, the Economy Ad Hoc committee wanted to get it right.
The committee included input not only from councillors and administration, but from the Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development office headed up by Larry Heggs.
The end result may require some tweaking as it goes along, but there is a lot to say about what is being provided as incentives, and the hope is there are businesses that will be interested in taking advantage of the program.
There are three parts to the program, as there are incentives for facade and site improvements; for new construction; and for businesses moving into a vacant building.
The program covers many situations that a business may be considering in light of their activities and a wish to see expansion and growth.
One consideration is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. No one really knows if it’s ever going to settle down enough to ease restrictions. Just when people think we are getting through a big wave of infections, a new variant appears, in this case the omicron variant.
Business owners might want to consider that we will gradually learn how to live and work while dealing with COVID, as vaccines seem to be doing the job in protecting people from the effects of the virus.
The new variants are an unknown factor, but if the vaccines currently available continue to offer protection, they are not a big concern as long as people take precautions and get the jab.
The local, provincial and national economy has been hurting for a while, thanks to the pandemic, but as we are able to mitigate the effects of the virus, we should be able to gradually get back to some level of “normal”, and business activities can return with a view to expansion and growth.
This incentive program covers the range of what a business owner might be considering, whether it’s just some upgrading to the exterior of their premises, moving into a vacant building already in place for a better location, or making the bold move to build new.
Whatever place a business owner is at, there are possibilities and options available with a program like this, and the result can be new jobs, and new opportunities for residents and for the business community as we move forward.
