Around the Arch Blog

The City of Reno and the Reno Redevelopment Agency will help struggling local businesses weather the economic downturn through a program called the Reno Community Vitality and Economic Recovery (RECOVER) program.  It is designed to ease the impacts of the recession and stimulate the local economy to create new jobs at the same time.  Read the rest of this entry »

During the recent discussions about the RSCVA’s new marketing tagline, I’ve heard some people express concern over the possibility of losing the City’s nickname, “The Biggest Little City in the World.”

I want to reassure everyone that no matter what direction the RSCVA takes in their marketing campaign, the City of Reno is committed to protecting and promoting its 80 year-old slogan. In fact, part of the action plan for this year’s Communications Priority includes updating intellectual property policies and procedures and making sure we’ve got appropriate copyright protection. Read the rest of this entry »

If you own a business or are a developer, there is a stimulus program you should know about.  Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Recovery Zone Facility Bonds are being made available.  The bonds offer tax exempt rates for projects that would otherwise be financed on a taxable basis. This makes the debt service repayment more affordable as compared to General Obligation bonds. It should be noted the new bond program must be re-paid and the issuer must identify repayment sources as part of the qualification process.  Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to the Recovery Zone Economic Development bonds, the City of Reno also has the authority to issue more than $65 million in Recovery Zone Facility bonds. These bonds offer tax-exempt rates for projects by municipal government, non-profits and private developers that would otherwise be financed on a taxable basis. Staff will announce the City’s time lines for considering private projects that are eligible for conduit-bond financing at the September 23rd meeting.

Meanwhile, interested parties are encouraged to contact the Office of the City Manager. Interested parties should be aware that their projects need to be completed within 3 years, must have repayment sources for the bonds identified, and the bonds must be issued by December of 2010. Nevada Revised Statutes 268.530-568 describes the eligibility requirements for private conduit bonding in greater detail.

So far there are three requests for Recovery Zone Facility bonds. One is from SK Baseball for up to $25 million to complete the build out of the restaurant-retail spaces next to the Aces Ball Park. Another request for $47.7 million is from Northern Nevada Urban Land Development for the Tessera Project which would build Class A office space and retail at the gateway between the City’s urban core and the University. The third request for $21.6 million is from Evans Ranch LLC to build wind-energy generation facilities.

The Reno City Council agreed to turn over most of its $43.7 million in Recovery Zone Economic Development bonds to the Washoe County School District to rebuild new city schools and to the University of Nevada, Reno to build a new medical building to train physicians. Members also decided to keep $10.6 million for energy conservation projects throughout the City.

The City of Reno is authorized to issue up $43.7 million in Recovery Zone Economic Development bonds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bonds must be repaid by the issuer; however, the federal government makes the repayment more affordable by providing a 45% subsidy on the interest costs. The projects selected are all ready to go and have repayment sources identified. The City of Reno will not issue the bonds but will convey that authority to the School District and the University so that they can issue the bonds for their projects.

The Washoe County School District will receive the largest allocation of bonding authority of $21,930,000. The money will be used for renovations at older city schools.

The University of Nevada, Reno will receive $11.2 million in bonding authority for a new medical school building. The project has already received $31 million from the Nevada Legislature. The State Board of Examiners is expected to vote on issuing a construction contract for the new building on November 7th.

The Reno City Council approved a proclamation naming October 4-7 as International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Days demonstrating the City’s support of the group’s 2009 Annual Conference to be held at the Silver Legacy during the above mentioned dates.

The International Economic Development Council is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to helping economic developers do their job more effectively, which is to bring high-quality jobs to their communities.

The theme of the IEDC’s 2009 conference is “Renewable Communities: Leveraging Your Competitive Resources” and the proclamation notes the event will be hosted in one of America’s premiere renewable communities-namely the Greater Reno, Tahoe and Sparks, Nevada area!

The Reno City Council approved a Community Pride Grant in the amount of $550 to assist Join Together Northern Nevada in purchasing teaching materials for the Real Bar Campaign.

The Campaign supports local retailers who have shown a commitment to deter underage and abusive drinking in their establishments. It provides retailers with the opportunity to obtain a server training card and undergo required course work to better identify intoxication. It also provides training to help identify fake identifications and develop strategies to deal with disturbances.

Each Neighborhood Advisory Board has the ability to recommend Community Pride Grant funding to Council. These funds are neighborhood specific and allocated to projects the City may not have budgeted for but are projects the Neighborhood Advisory Board would like to expedite. The funds are generally intended for projects that are short term in nature and quick to implement.

The Reno City Council approved the expenditure of $50,000 for services from the Nevada Small Business Development Center to the Reno Redevelopment Agency. Since 2005, the Agency has utilized the services provided by the SBDC to assist small businesses working with the Agency.

The SBDC is a statewide business assistance outreach program of the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business. The Center provides a variety of technical assistance to support Nevada business such as counseling, consulting, education, training and environmental compliance. The Center also assists in gathering data, statistics and research. The Center is a valuable resource and important tool that provides information ranging from the basics, such as how to start a business to providing more advanced strategies such as how to grow a business.

The SBDC provides free counseling to would-be small business owners and existing small businesses at the Redevelopment Agency at City Hall and at its UNR Campus location University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business Administration Ansari Business Building, Room 411, Reno, Nevada 89557-0100.

The City of Reno is offering a 90 day amnesty period for small and home-based business owners to allow them to get a required business license without penalty. The program starts on August 1, 2009. The Reno City Council approved the amnesty program at their July 15th meeting as a way to entice business owners to voluntarily come forward and obtain a required business license. 

Small businesses are defined as those with no more than three full-time or five part time employees and would include such businesses as housekeepers, private music teachers, make-up or other product distributors. Business license fees range from $60 a year for gross sales of less than $20,000 a year to $130 for gross sales of $20,000 to $100,000 (tiered schedule for gross sales exceeding $100,000) a year. The penalty is half the license cost for every year of operation without a license.

For more information visit the Business License section on this website.