Regional Resources

The links on this page are provided to help business owners, employees and citizens find additional information on various other commercial and private organizations in place to help local economies grow.

State of Colorado

Government Entities

Other

Office of Economic Development and International Trade

The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) works with statewide partners to create a positive business climate that encourages dynamic economic development and sustainable job growth for Colorado. For more information please visit the OEDIT site.

To learn more, check out the OEDIT program overview of the Community Development Block Grant Program.

Rural Jump Start

Montezuma is one of four Southwest Colorado counties that have been approved by the Colorado Economic Development Commission as a Rural Jump-Start County. This State program provides an opportunity for businesses relocating into Colorado to get tax relief by choosing to locate in Montezuma County or the City of Cortez. The business has to be non-duplicative, create a certain number of high wage new jobs, and must be approved by the Town/County and State as outlined in each county’s resolution. Incentives include:

Relief from state income taxes
Relief from the state sales & use tax for the business
Relief from county and municipal personal property taxes for the business

Find more information and a quick fact sheet at https://choosecolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/RJS_FactSheet_2017-10-12.pdf

Enterprise Zone Tax Credits

If your business is in Montezuma or Dolores County, you could be eligible for up to 10 different state tax credits for investments in Enterprise Zones. These tax credits may be applied to investments in job training, new-employee hiring, agricultural processing, rural economic development, new-hire health insurance, research and development, vacant-building rehabilitation and commercial-vehicle investment.

To learn more, check out the Colorado Enterprise Zone Quick Reference Guide

Region 9 Business Loan Fund

Region 9’s Business Loan Fund provides commercial loans within a five county area for any start-up or existing business. Region 9 loans range from $5,000 to $250,000 and are frequently smaller amounts than traditional banks like to handle.

Consideration is given to businesses creating or retaining jobs, diversifying their local economy, leveraging other funds, and exporting a good or service. Region 9 also offers micro-loans up to $100,000 for qualifying businesses with five or fewer employees. Technical assistance grants up to $5,000 are available as a dollar for dollar match from the borrower. These grant funds can be used for qualifying technical assistance to the business owner in the areas of accounting, financial, marketing, and business education. All businesses are welcome to call our office for more detailed information about our specific programs.

To learn more, visit the SW Colorado Small Business Development Center.

Energy Efficiency Funding

The Energy Efficiency Fund (EFF) is part of Region 9’s revolving loan fund and is intended to help businesses fund energy-efficiency projects. EFF funding can be used to increase energy efficiency in buildings, purchase equipment that is more energy efficient, to generate renewable energy and to cover costs to implement these types of improvements.

To learn, more visit the Region 9 overview of the EFF program.

Micro-Enterprise Loan Fund

Region 9’s Micro Enterprise Programs help qualifying small businesses with short-term capital needs.

To quality, businesses must be:

Located in the five county Region 9 zone.
Applying for loans of $100,000 or less
Employing five or fewer people at the time of application
And the business owner must qualify as low-to-moderate income or a low-to-moderate income job must be created.

Micro-enterprise loans can be used for normal business functions including working capital and equipment or inventory purchases or to refinance debt for business purposes.

To learn more, visit the Region 9 micro-enterprise site.