Tax Incentive Program

The City of Kent offers Enterprise Zone and Community Reinvestment Area tax incentive programs designed to provide property tax relief to eligible businesses who build or expand in the City of Kent. Provided below are brief descriptions of each program with downloading links to receive copies of the applications.

Enterprise Zone Program
Enterprise Zones are designated areas within the City of Kent in which businesses can receive tax exemptions on eligible investments in buildings, machinery/equipment, and inventory, and improvements . Through State of Ohio and Portage County authorizations, all of the City of Kent has been designated as an Enterprise Zone, and is, therefore, able to provide qualifying companies with tax abatements of up to 75% of the value of new real and tangible personal property for a period of up to 10 years. The City's objectives in establishing this designation are to create new, and retain existing jobs within the City; to encourage new investment; improve competitiveness; increase local property and income tax revenues; and generally improve the economic climate of the City. The benefits to an eligible company will be a reduction in their overall tax requirement which may be used to off-set start-up or expansion costs, and improvement of the company's competitive advantage vis-ˆ-vis its competition. In addition, corporate franchise tax benefits may also be available to the company for specific projects if certain conditions are met.

To download a copy of the application form, please click



Community Reinvestment Area Program
Community Reinvestment Areas (CRA) are designated areas within the City of Kent which permit businesses to apply for real property tax abatements on the improved real estate value of a project. The purpose of this program is to encourage property owners to reinvest within the City of Kent by not having to pay real property taxes on the increased value of their property for a given period of time (five to 15 years depending on the project). Both new construction and remodeling of existing structures for residential, commercial and industrial land uses are eligible for CRA benefits.

To download a copy of the application form, please click



If you are interested in applying for this development incentive, it is recommended that you contact Michael Weddle, City of Kent Economic Development Coordinator by phone at (330) 678-8108, or via E-mail.