Incentives

The City of San Marcos (the City) encourages and supports high quality new business development and the expansion of its business community through retention, expansion, and recruitment endeavors. The City of San Marcos is a vibrant community with a strong workforce pipeline and robust infrastructure network to support business growth, and, as such, financial incentives should not be necessary in most cases. The City encourages the use of incentives only as necessary to fill gaps and support business developments that would otherwise not select San Marcos as the location to locate or expand their operations. 

Minimum Requirements for incentives:

1. The firm must be located within the taxing jurisdiction of the City of San Marcos. Applicants with a project located outside of the city limits may apply for incentives to be effective after an approved petition for annexation. 
2. The firm must comply with current City of San Marcos water quality regulations on all current projects and during the term of the incentive agreement. Variances from the requirements will not be given via an economic development incentive agreement. 
3. Infill development and reuse of existing buildings is encouraged. For new businesses in San Marcos, incentives will not be considered if a new development permit application has already been submitted, the purchase of an existing property has been finalized, or a new tenant lease has been executed. For existing businesses, incentives will not be considered if an application for a new development permit has already been submitted. 
4. Except for the Small Business Retention Incentive, all jobs calculated or counted for jobs-based economic development purposes shall earn no less than the county all industry average wage for the county in which the firm will be or is operating. 
5. All new full-time employees and their dependents shall have access to employer sponsored healthcare throughout the full term of the agreement. 
6. Applicants must demonstrate within their application that, without receiving incentive assistance, the applicant would not locate or expand within the City of San Marcos. 
7. Any company receiving incentives must use local public resources to inform the local labor force of career opportunities (e.g., San Marcos Public Library, Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area, Texas State University, San Marcos Daily Record, local job fairs). 

Please use the links below to review the City's Economic Development Policy for incentives and apply for incentives.