The City of Winkler rolled out a new tax break for expanding businesses.

Starting in 2017, companies constructing a new building in the next five years will receive a grant in lieu of taxes.

Winkler Mayor Martin Harder explains the grant will be based on the added tax assessment on the expansion.

"The first year... the 6.3 mills which is your basic tax base, that will be eliminated," Harder says.

The second year companies will owe 20 percent of a full tax payment, increasing by 20 percent each consecutive year until the full rate is reached by year six.

Harder says the phased approach is meant to encourage their industrial base.

"You add it up over the course of five years it could be worth tens of thousands of dollars, or it could be worth a hundred thousand dollars," he says, depending on the size of the project.