Jan 6, 2010

Second small biz to get perks from Broomfield opens its doorsBy Michael DavidsonBroomfieldEnterprise.com

It’s better late than never for two of the three small businesses taking advantage of tax-sharing deals with Broomfield.

Abbott’s Frozen Custard opened Wednesday, and Herb’s Meat and Specialty Foods is scheduled to open early this year. Both have deals with Broomfield that granted them property tax rebates if they opened by Jan. 1. The city offered the deals as part of City Council’s effort to encourage small businesses to open in Broomfield.

Although the dollar amounts are small, and the businesses only will employ a handful of people, the terms of the agreement are the same as those offered to larger employers such as Sun Microsystems and Level 3 Communications. Over the next four years Broomfield will return half the personal property tax, which is levied on equipment, to the businesses. It also will return about 42 percent of the use tax levied on construction materials.

Abbott’s opened in the Shops at Quail Creek. The custard shop’s owners and employees spent the first days of the new year scrambling to ready the shop at 2205 W. 136th Ave.

“An awful lot of people have stopped by and asked ‘(are you) sure you’re opening on Wednesday,” Abbott’s owner Bill O’Dwyer said on Tuesday.

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