Skip to content
Facebook LinkedIn Instagram

Industrial Development Board

The Overton County Industrial Development Board is the public body responsible for the real estate, capital projects, and incentive structures that make industrial recruitment and expansion possible in Overton County. Created under Tennessee law to promote industry and develop trade, the IDB holds and markets industrial property, negotiates with prospects on behalf of the county, and administers the tools that bring new investment to the community.

What the IDB Does

The IDB owns and manages Overton County's industrial property and works to maintain a current inventory of available sites, including land owned outright, property under option, and parcels available through partnership with private landowners. When a prospect is evaluating Overton County, the IDB is the entity that can convey property, structure a lease or purchase, and put a site under contract.

The IDB also administers the incentive tools available to new and expanding industry. That includes payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreements, industrial revenue bonds, and other financing structures that help close the gap on a competitive project. Working alongside the Chamber, Tennessee Economic and Community Development, and Tennessee Valley Authority Economic Development, the IDB helps assemble the local piece of an incentive package so that Overton County can respond to prospects with speed and certainty.

Beyond individual projects, the IDB makes the long-term decisions about site readiness that determine whether Overton County is in the conversation at all. That means recommending investment in due diligence, entitlements, and utility extension before a prospect surfaces, pursuing Select Tennessee Certified Site and Advantage Tennessee designations, and weighing the cost of site control.

How the IDB and the Chamber Work Together

The Livingston/Overton County Chamber of Commerce serves as the lead economic development organization for the county and the first point of contact for prospects, site selectors, and existing employers. The IDB sits at the table for every project that involves real estate, capital investment, or incentives, and an IDB representative serves on the Chamber's Economic and Community Development Committee. Existing employers can expect the IDB to be part of the conversation on any expansion, and prospects can expect a coordinated response from both organizations from the first inquiry forward.

Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs)

A PILOT is the most common local incentive used for industrial recruitment and expansion in Tennessee. Under a PILOT agreement, the Industrial Development Board takes title to a company's land, building, or equipment and leases it back to the company. Because property owned by the IDB is exempt from property tax, the company then makes an agreed-upon annual payment to the county and city in place of the taxes it would otherwise owe. That payment is typically set at a percentage of full taxes that steps up over the term of the agreement, so that the company pays a reduced amount in the early years when it is absorbing the cost of construction and hiring, and returns to the full tax roll when the agreement ends.

The key point is that a PILOT does not give away revenue the county already has. The land involved is usually undeveloped or underused, and the taxes being abated are taxes on new investment that would not exist without the project. A well-structured PILOT trades a portion of new revenue for a period of years in exchange for jobs, capital investment, and a permanent addition to the tax base once the agreement expires.

PILOT agreements in Tennessee are negotiated by the IDB and require approval from the county commission and, where the property is inside city limits, the city council, which retain the authority to set the terms and the performance requirements. Agreements typically tie the abatement to commitments on jobs created, wages paid, and capital invested, with clawback provisions if the company falls short. Every PILOT is reported annually to the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, so the terms are public and the performance is tracked.

Tax Increment Financing (TIFs)

A TIF captures the increase in property tax revenue generated by new development within a defined area and uses that increment to pay for the public infrastructure that made the development possible, such as roads, water and sewer extensions, site preparation, parking, or streetscape improvements. The county and city continue to receive the taxes they were collecting before the project, and the new revenue above that baseline is dedicated for a set period to repaying the infrastructure cost, after which the full increment flows to the general fund.

TIFs are most often used for larger mixed-use, commercial, or downtown redevelopment projects where the barrier is not the company's tax bill but the cost of the public improvements needed to make a site buildable. In Tennessee, TIFs are governed by the Uniformity in Tax Increment Financing Act and are established through an industrial development board or housing authority with a written economic impact plan approved by each taxing entity whose revenue is affected. Certain plans also require review by the Comptroller's office. As with PILOTs, the terms are public and the projected return is documented before any approval is given.

How Overton County Uses Local Incentive Tools

The Industrial Development Board treat PILOTs and TIFs as tools to be used deliberately, on projects where the return to the community clearly justifies the investment. Every proposal is evaluated on the jobs it creates, the wages it pays, the capital it invests, the tax base it adds once the agreement ends, and the fit with our community's long-term goals. We maintain pre-cleared incentive frameworks so that when a real prospect calls, we can respond with speed and certainty rather than negotiating from scratch under deadline, and we report outcomes to the County Commission and the City Council so that public funders can see exactly what their investment is producing.

If you are a company evaluating Overton County or an existing employer considering an expansion, the Chamber can walk you through what may be available for your project. If you are a resident or elected official who wants to understand how a specific agreement works, we are glad to sit down and explain it.

 

Agendas

  • July 21, 2026
  • April 30, 2026

Minutes

Board Members

  • Shannon Cantrell, Chair, EXIT Cross Roads Realty
  • Zach Stephens, Secretary (ex officio non-voting), Livingston/Overton County Chamber of Commerce
  • Wes Burnett, Wellworth Bank
  • Cara Boone (ex officio non-voting), Overton County Assessor of Property
  • Jim Evans, First National Bank of Tennessee
  • Jared Garrett, Gary Maxwell Insurance Agency
  • Wanda Krantz, Formerly with One Bank of Tennessee
  • Clint Melton, R&M Family Pharmacy
  • James Scarlett, James F. Scarlett, CPA, P.C.
Scroll To Top