Business Images of Northwest Louisiana

Living and Working in Webster
Parish offers infrastructure, tax credits, excellent quality of life

Minden is home to two golf courses.

Forget that umbrella. When it comes to the economic weather forecast, Webster Parish is looking ahead to sunny financial incentives, the promise of growing development and a consistently balmy business climate.

One of Northwest Louisiana’s most promising parishes, Webster offers new and relocating businesses a rare combination of business-friendly atmosphere, ample infrastructure and enviable quality of life. No wonder more and more industry is calling Webster Parish home.

“We have an excellent infrastructure, I-20 running right through the parish, an excellent quality of life and an atmosphere that welcomes business,” says Jon Maynard, vice president for economic development with the Northwest Louisiana Economic Development Foundation (NLEDF). “On top of that we have proactive chambers of commerce, proactive cities and towns and a very active economic development community. It’s an exciting environment.”

The region is home to six universities, community colleges and active vocational-technical training programs that work closely with local business to provide a well-trained workforce, Maynard says. Its relatively low land costs and a choice of industrial development districts – complete with ample space and proximity to Shreveport’s airport and shipping port – also make it attractive, especially to suppliers of Shreveport industry.

Webster Parish offers existing and relocating businesses all the financial incentives available though the state of Louisiana and the Department of Labor – and something else.

As part of the federal Renewal Community Initiative, businesses in Webster can take advantage of major tax credits that really add up.

Renewal Community tax benefits include wage credits for employees who live or work in the community; work opportunity credit for employees hired from high-unemployment or special-employment groups; welfare-to-work credit for a new hire of workers on long-term family assistance; deduction for equipment purchases; commercial revitalization deductions; deduction of hazardous material cleanup costs for business in search of land; zero-percent capital gains rate for businesses that hold an asset at least five years; and credit to owners of new or renovated rental housing who set aside units for low-income residents.

“I think being a Renewal Community is a tremendous advantage to Webster Parish,” Maynard says. “It makes Webster Parish a very competitive place to do business ”

It can make businesses more competitive, too.

“One local manufacturer who took advantage of the wage credit recovered $1.2 million going back to 2002,” Maynard points out. “It can be very important to a business.”

Financial incentives are key to the parish’s economic development picture, but an equally appealing asset is Webster’s unmatched quality of life. The parish’s 391,000 acres of rolling hills, pine forests and bottom land are an outdoorsman’s heaven. Bayous and lakes dot the parish, to the delight of fishermen, swimmers, water-skiers and campers. A four-season climate averages 65 degrees, with mild winters.

Two cities – Minden in southern Webster Parish and Springhill in northern Webster Parish – and several smaller towns offer small-town amenities and charm coupled with proximity to Shreveport and its big-city appeal. Housing costs are very attractive, with a variety of choices ranging from historic homes to new construction available in a wide price range. The crime rate is very low, the educational system good and access to outstanding medical care is convenient.

“Webster Parish is a great place to do business,” Maynard says. “And it’s a great place to live and raise a family.”

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