Bill to Add Dickinson County to Rural Opportunity Zones

By Tim Horan, Reflector-Chronicle

Both a House and Senate bill would add Dickinson County to the list of counties that are currently designated Rural Opportunity Zones.

Sen. Randall Hardy, R-Salina, said House Bill 2112 will add Dickinson and Crawford counties to the zones that came out of the Committee on Rural Revitalization Friday.

He said he testified in favor of adding Dickinson County to the zones.

“The intent is to help rural communities in the Western part of the state,” he said. “We (Dickinson County) should be included.”

The program offers individuals who relocate from outside the state to a county that has been designated as a Rural Opportunity Zone the opportunity to participate in the Student Loan Forgiveness Program and receive 100 percent state income tax credit through tax year 2021.

Hardy said many of the counties surrounding Dickinson — Marion, Morris, Clay and Ottawa — are already in the program.

There is a similar bill in the Senate which adds Atchison, Cowley, Crawford, Dickinson, Franklin, and Pottawatomie to the program.

Currently there are 77 counties in the program: Allen, Anderson, Barber, Bourbon, Brown, Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Coffey, Comanche, Decatur, Doniphan, Edwards, Elk, Ellsworth, Gove, Graham, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Greenwood, Hamilton, Harper, Haskell, Hodgeman, Jackson, Jewell, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Labette, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Meade, Mitchell, Montgomery, Morris, Morton, Nemaha, Neosho, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Ottawa, Pawnee, Phillips, Pratt, Rawlins, Republic, Rice, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Scott, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, Trego, Thomas, Wabaunsee, Wallace, Washington, Wichita, Wilson or Woodson counties.