San Juan has switched on a rebuilt economic-incentives program that can put up to $150,000 into an eligible business - and exempt it from up to 100% of its municipal taxes and patent fees.

The Programa de Transformación Económica de la Ciudad Capital, run through the municipality's Department of Economic Development and Tourism, took effect October 1 under new administrative guidelines. It replaces a development code Mayor Miguel Romero called roughly 25 years old, filed as an ordinance earlier this year and framed around a simple shift: benefits follow strategic sectors, not geography.

Six sectors are designated strategic: creative industries, designated gastronomic routes, specialized health services, knowledge- and innovation-intensive professional services, information technologies, and experience tourism. A business qualifies as new if it is starting operations in San Juan, has operated there for a year or less, or is relocating from another Puerto Rico municipality. Existing businesses qualify by expanding - new locations, construction, or property improvements.

The money scales with size. A small or medium enterprise (average gross revenue of $3 million or less, 25 or fewer full-time employees) in a strategic sector can receive up to $75,000 with a workforce of 1-25, and up to $150,000 above that. Non-strategic eligible activities can draw between $40,000 and $75,000 depending on headcount. Funds cover startup capital, equipment and machinery, inventory and raw materials, first-year payroll, bonds/licenses/insurance, and utilities.

The complementary tax side is where the program gets aggressive: full or partial exemption - up to 100% - from construction arbitrio, basic property taxes on real and personal property, and the municipal patent, evaluated per business.

Romero's rollout ties the program to a looming deadline rather than celebration: federal stimulus (ARPA) expires at the end of 2026 and CDBG-DR recovery funds at the end of 2027, and the municipality wants a local engine before both run out. An initial $2 million municipal appropriation seeds an Economic Development Fund, with expiring exemptions - $5-6 million a year recurring over the next four years - recycled into it. Benefits run up to five consecutive years, extendable to seven.

The design also tries to avoid double-dipping: applicants already holding state incentives under Ley 60 face evaluation that accounts for existing decrees. Businesses centered on alcohol sales, casinos, horse-racing agencies, property management and cannabis sales are excluded.

Applications run through the municipality's Concierge Empresarial - the one-stop business office at Plaza Las Américas (second level, near Claro and Pergamino café), by phone at 787-480-5628, or at conciergeempresarial@sanjuan.pr. Required documents include a valid merchant registration, good-standing certification, current municipal patent, single permit, financial projections, and lease or ownership evidence.

For San Juan's small-business economy - the audience this program is built for - the pitch is blunt: the money is real, the sectors are chosen, and the window is open now.