Recently, Carbon County Commissioner Jake Mellor was invited to travel to Washington D.C. to gather important information regarding opportunity zones that otherwise the county normally would not have. Opportunity zones are those that are outside of the normally eligible area but have a potential for growth economically and financially, such as Ridge Road.
The Opportunity Zones Program offers three tax incentives to invest in low-income communities through an Opportunity Fund. Due to all of the opportunities for employment along Ridge Road, Commissioner Mellor was able to pull in the attention of two coal companies that are interested.
The local average wage and job increase are two majors areas of impact that can potentially change with this opportunity. Commissioner Mellor served on the National Association of Planning Commissioners and was requested to represent Utah for Economic Development of Workforce Services. He was then able to sit in on a presentation with three senators who wrote the Opportunity Zone Bill, which explained specifics in the bill pertaining to Utah.
Commissioner Mellor was then able to ask the association of local governments about presenting to the governors. Through this process, Commissioner Mellor was successful in bringing home this win for the community when the governor approved. Less than 5% of all opportunity zones can be utilized and this win was secured due to social economics as well as bringing jobs to the area.