Western Macon County missed the income cutoff for the new federal opportunity zones by about $3,000 a family, leaving the county without an investor tax break that will be available in Kirksville, Brookfield, and Moberly starting Jan. 1, 2027.
The new zones come as Macon prepares to lose the plant the Missouri Department of Economic Development called the county's largest employer in 2025. Conagra Brands told workers Nov. 9 that it intends to close its Macon plant Jan. 15, 2027, putting 442 jobs at stake, Chariton Media Group reported in "Conagra Brands to close Macon plant Jan. 15."
Opportunity zones give federal tax breaks to people who invest in businesses and property in low-income areas through special funds. Treasury approved all 131 Missouri census tracts the state nominated, Gov. Mike Kehoe's office announced Nov. 5. The new map takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, and stays in place for 10 years.
None of Macon County's five census tracts was eligible, according to U.S. Treasury data, so the state could not nominate any of them.
The closest call was tract 9602, which covers the western part of the county, including Ethel, Elmer, New Cambria, and Callao. To qualify on income alone, a Macon County tract's median family income had to be no more than 70 percent of the statewide median of $91,360, or about $63,950. Tract 9602's median was $66,953.
The rest of the county was further away. The four other tracts, including those covering Macon, La Plata, Atlanta, and Bevier, had median family incomes from 81 percent to nearly 100 percent of the state figure. None had a poverty rate high enough to qualify another way; the highest was about 14 percent, short of the 20 percent mark.
Those figures come from the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey and were set before Conagra's announcement.
Three neighboring counties each landed one tract. Adair County's includes part of Kirksville, Linn County's includes Brookfield, and Randolph County's is in Moberly. Kirksville and Moberly both had zones in the first round in 2018; Macon County did not.
Kirksville Regional Economic Development Inc. already pitches the designation to companies, telling site selectors on its website that Kirksville "is also in an Enterprise Zone and an Opportunity Zone."
Lisa Colson, executive director of the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission in Trenton, said her agency submitted applications for all of the eligible census tracts in its region and worked with Linn County commissioners and the Brookfield city administrator, who "provided supporting documents, maps and letters of support."
Colson told Chariton Media Group on Nov. 11 that Brookfield's location on Highway 36 and the BNSF rail line gives businesses a way to ship their products. "The available industrial and commercial sites located in the opportunity zone would support warehousing, or any industry that requires access to rail or highway transport," she wrote in an email. Asked how the designation would help Linn County compete with neighbors left off the map, she wrote: "Many counties are able to offer state and local incentives, but if investors are seeking the benefits of Opportunity Zones, it will help Linn County become more competitive throughout North Missouri."
States could nominate no more than 25 percent of their eligible tracts. Missouri had 523 and used its full allotment. Adair County had five eligible tracts and got one. Monroe and Shelby counties each had one eligible tract, and neither was picked. Chariton and Knox counties, like Macon County, had none.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development said it relied on local partners who showed interest in the program and provided planning details when it chose the nominations.
"Our local partners know their communities' needs and opportunities best, and their input was essential to this process," Michelle Hataway, director of the department, said in the Nov. 5 announcement.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development; Jamie Milcik, president of the Moberly Area Economic Development Corp.; and Becky Cleveland of Brookfield were asked by email Wednesday about the new zones. Chariton Media Group did not receive a response in time for publication.