WINONA, Minn. – The Port Authority gave final approval a nine-year tax-waiver for trinket and memorabilia manufacturer WinCraft to build a new distribution center on the Far East End. The tax deal allows Wincraft to use $891,000 in tax savings through 2033 to offset construction costs. The 145,500-square foot building would be in Riverbend Technology Park. Once in operation, Wincraft said, there would be 15 new employees. Construction cost $10 million. Construction window: 2023-2024.
A growing Wincraft campus. New distribution center would be a companion to Wincraft’s existing Riverbend plant, which also was built with TIF incentive.
Profile: Tax-increment financing
TIF for shorthand for “tax increment financing.” It’s a mechanism devised in California in the 1950s to encourage investments to invigorate local economies. Future taxes are forgiven for a specified period in hopes of expanding the tax base through new jobs and economic activity. The Winona Port Authority has used TIFs aggressively, most notably on the agency’s 34 acres of East End swamplands, which as swmps generated no tax revenue, but which is blossoming into the Riverbend Technology Park. Previous TIF Riverbed projects project include music publishing house Hal Leonard.