Incentives

The City of Grand Prairie has streamlined the development process by housing all development departments in the Development Center, a facility designed to promote "one-stop shopping," cut down on the time it takes to obtain construction permits and certificates of occupancy, and work through all stages of your finish-out to the facility. Grand Prairie prides itself on a fast tracking this process for our industrial and commercial projects during pre-development meetings, permitting and construction processes.

The City of Grand Prairie’s policy allows business owners of tangible business personal property to apply for partial rebate on the City portion of their property taxes for the added business personal property (excluding inventory).

Applicant Business will have 12 months from date of Resolution by Grand Prairie City Council approving tax incentive package in which to meet all requirements.

Stipulations

• If landowner, building owner, business owner or tenant submits construction documents, files a Commercial Building Permit, Application for Certificate of Occupancy, or executes a lease agreement without prior submission of the fully executed and completed Application of Incentives (and accompanying application fee), the City of Grand Prairie will no longer consider any incentives, and all negotiations are rendered null and void.
• Land sites or buildings located within a Tax Increment Financing District are ineligible to receive property tax rebates.

How to apply

Complete the Economic Development Incentives Application to apply for BPP Tax Rebates (include other City of Grand Prairie incentive requests on this same application).

Projects may also be eligible for an abatement of County taxes on the value added to real or new business personal property.

How to apply

A separate application for abatement of County taxes must be filed with the County Administrator’s Office. The Commissioner’s Court has final authority on the level and term of the abatement program.

County Tax Abatement Information:

• Tarrant County Economic Development
• Dallas County Economic Development

Eligible office, corporate headquarters and industrial projects must exceed an added capital investment of $5,000,000 and must add and maintain a minimum of 25 (industrial), 50 (office) new full-time employees (temporary agency employees do not qualify).

Consideration of any and all incentives is based on current market conditions within the City of Grand Prairie as determined by the Grand Prairie City Council and Grand Prairie Economic Development. Any and all negotiations begin upon receipt of a fully executed Application for Incentives and accompanying application fee.

If requirements are not met within stated time periods, any written or implied offer of incentives made by the City of Grand Prairie will be rendered null and void. Incentives may be re-negotiated based on then current market conditions.

How to apply

Complete the Economic Development Incentives Application to apply for the "Office, Corporate Headquarters and Industrial Incentive Program" (include other City of Grand Prairie incentive requests on this same application).

The City of Grand Prairie’s policy allows real estate owners of land to apply for partial rebate on the City portion of their property taxes for the added real property improvements (excluding land). 

Applicant Landowner will have (a) 12 months from date of Resolution by Grand Prairie City Council approving tax incentive package in which to commence new construction, and (b) 24 months after obtaining Shell (Building) Certificate of Occupancy in which to meet all minimum investment and employment requirements.

How to apply

Complete the Economic Development Incentives Application to apply for Real Tax Rebates (include other City of Grand Prairie incentive requests on this same application).

The 78th Texas Legislature established the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) to help attract new jobs and investment to the state. As the largest "deal-closing" fund of its kind in the nation, the TEF continues to attract businesses to Texas. The fund is used only as a final incentive tool where a single Texas site is competing with another viable out-of-state option. Additionally, the TEF will only be considered to help close a deal that already has significant local support behind it from a prospective Texas community.

Projects that are considered for Enterprise Fund support must demonstrate a project’s worthiness, maximize the benefit to the State of Texas and realize a significant rate of return of the public dollars being used for economic development in Texas. Capital investment, job creation, wages generated, financial strength of the applicant, applicant’s business history, analysis of the relevant business sector, and federal and local government and private sector financial support of a project will all be significant factors in approving the use of the Enterprise Fund.

How to apply

Visit the Texas Enterprise Fund website for more information.

Grand Prairie can nominate projects as an Enterprise Project under the Texas Enterprise Zone Program. Upon the City’s designating a business as an enterprise project, and upon that project’s designation being approved by the state, the business would be eligible for the following incentives:

• An enterprise project is eligible for a refund of state sales and use taxes paid for building materials, machinery and equipment, electricity and natural gas purchased and consumed in the normal course of business and depending on investment amount and number of jobs created/retained.
• Further eligible items include tangible personal property purchased and consumed in the normal course of business and taxable services.

How to apply

Visit the Texas Enterprise Zone website for more information.

Grand Prairie created three Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts as a public financing method to be used as a subsidy for public infrastructure and other community improvement projects, and two of the three are still active (#1 and #3).

The increment of tax used in a TIF is the difference between the amount of property tax revenue generated before the TIF project and the amount of property tax revenue generated after the TIF project is completed. Only property taxes generated by the incremental increase in value of a TIF district are available for TIF projects. Any land sites located within a TIF District is ineligible to receive any additional incentives inasmuch as the real estate taxes are used to repay the TIF.

Texas businesses are eligible for state sales & use tax exemptions on leased or purchased machinery, equipment, replacement parts, and accessories that have a useful life of more than six months, and that are used or consumed in the manufacturing, processing, fabricating, or repairing of tangible personal property for ultimate sale.

Texas businesses are exempt from paying state sales and use tax on labor for constructing new facilities. Texas businesses are exempt from paying state sales and use tax on the purchase of machinery exclusively used in processing, packing, or marketing agricultural products by the original producer at a location operated by the original producer.

Texas businesses are exempt from paying state sales and use tax on electricity and natural gas used in manufacturing, processing, or fabricating tangible personal property. The business must complete a predominant use study that shows that at least 50% of the electricity or natural gas consumed by the business directly causes a physical change to a product.

How to apply

Visit the Texas Comptroller - Manufacturing Exemptions website for more information.

Skills Development is Texas’ premier job-training program. The focus of Skills Development is new job creation and retention of jobs by providing grants to community and technical colleges to provide customized job training programs for businesses who want to train new workers or upgrade the skills of their existing workforce.

Skills Development helps:

• Businesses and employers create new jobs and improve the skills of their current workforce
• Employees acquire new skills or upgrade existing skills to advance their careers

A consortium of businesses identifies a training need, and then partners with a public community or technical college to fill its specific needs. Businesses work directly with its local workforce board and college partners to submit proposals, develop curricula and conduct training. The Skills Development Fund pays for the training, and the college administers the grant.

Skills Development Fund Application and Other Resources

• Skills Development Website
• Tarrant County College Opportunity Center
• Workforce Solutions For Tarrant County (Tarrant County TWC)
• Workforce Solutions For Dallas County (Dallas County TWC)

The City of Grand Prairie offers the Freeport exemption, also known as an inventory tax exemption. Qualifying businesses may receive a tax exemption on inventory shipped out of Texas within 175 days.

How to apply

Applications for Freeport exemptions must be filed with the county appraisal district, and the chief appraiser will compute the exemption, if any.

Grand Prairie has Triple Freeport, the exemption of Freeport property from taxation by all three taxing jurisdictions: The City of Grand Prairie, Tarrant & Dallas Counties, and the Grand Prairie ISD & Arlington ISD.

County Appraisal District Information:

• Tarrant Appraisal District
• Dallas County Central Appraisal District