Opportunity knocks

Post Falls is home to one of the 28 Idaho jurisdictions designated as federal opportunity zones by Gov. Butch Otter and the U.S. Treasury this month.

The area south of I-90 stretches from Spokane Street in downtown Post Falls east to Highway 41, according to Post Falls City Administrator Shelly Enderud.

Opportunity zones were established by Congress in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities.

Private investors who place 90 percent or more of their funds into an opportunity zone earn tax relief on the capital gains created by those investments.

Two mills are located in the Post Falls zone.

“We hope that it would encourage development in this area,” Enderud said. “We’ve just got to find that developer.”

Enderud added that the city is waiting on more information before proceeding, but said that Post Falls does have marketing materials ready to send to developers.

The national initiative allows governors to establish up to 25 percent of their state’s low-income census tracts as opportunity zones.

A low-income census tract is defined as an area where the poverty rate exceeds 20 percent and/or family income falls below 80 percent of the area’s median income.

Gov. Otter approved 28 census tracts across 21 counties for the opportunity zone designation, all of which were certified by the U.S. Treasury on April 9.

“This is a great way to drive more capital investment toward Idaho neighborhoods and communities that aren’t benefiting as they should from our statewide economic growth,” Otter said.

No other opportunity zones were designated in Kootenai County, but Benewah, Bonner, Boundary and Shoshone counties were each awarded one zone.