Sue Ellyn Idelson was recently elected by her fellow FBA (Florida Brownfields Association) members to the FBA Board of Directors. This is a two-year term that expires in September 2020. The purpose of the Association is to promote a wide array of Brownfields-related goals, objectives and initiatives, including environmental restoration, economic revitalization, natural resources preservation, conservation and recreational-based beneficial reuse, enhancement of financial and regulatory incentives, job creation and training, public health, environmental equity and justice, and community outreach and education.
You might be asking yourself, what value does a tax credit broker bring to the FBA? One of the regulatory incentives Florida uses to clean up its contaminated sites is a tax credit known at the Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit or VCTC. Clocktower Tax Credits has represented the marketing of the VCTC since the credit’s inception in 2001. In fact, our President, Jeff Jacobson was instrumental in helping craft the transfer process from Seller to Buyer. Our experience over the years with both Sellers and Buyers of the VCTC positions us to know what programmatic changes would be beneficial to making the VCTC more marketable and thus a better vehicle to incentivize developers to clean up contaminated properties.
One area we would like to explore is removing the limitation of a one-time tax credit transfer. The state issues the credits once a year in July. Due to an exhaustion in annual state funding, there have been many years when tax credits have been issued two years after application. If an award recipient of a tax credit certificate needs or prefers to liquidate its position and sell its tax credit interest, we would have the flexibility to buy the credit outright from the owner. We would then have the opportunity to sell the tax credit later once it’s issued or when there’s greater investor demand.
Another area that would increase the marketability of the tax credit is a change in recapture rules. We support a regulation stating that transferees are not subject to recapture. Currently, there is a three-year period where the Department of Revenue can audit the cleanup project and if credits were inappropriately issued, they are subject to recapture. This provision creates risk and uncertainty for Buyers of the tax credit certificates. Credit pricing would increase if this risk was eliminated.
Sue Ellyn looks forward to her tenure on the Board. Project owners looking to sell their VCTCs should contact Sue Ellyn Idelson at (978) 793-9574 or SIdelson@ClocktowerTC.com, for information and great results!