By DOTTY NIST
Walton County officials have agreed to provide, in conjunction with Freeport, some funding in support of an Indian manufacturing business interested in putting its first U.S. facility in Walton County.
The financial support would be in the form of a corporate tax refund program.
Coming before Walton County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on May 26, to talk about the manufacturing facility and to seek support, were Walton County Economic Development Alliance (EDA) Executive Director Steve Jaeger, Ed Gardner of PowerSouth, and Larry Sassano of Florida’s Great Northwest. This was at the BCC regular meeting at the Walton County Courthouse.
The name of the business was not publicly identified, but Jaeger indicated that it would manufacture precision industrial components through a metal injection molding technology. The proposed facility is being referred to as “Project Target.”
Jaeger told the commissioners that the business would bring 330 “family-wage jobs” to Walton County if it decides to locate here. He indicated that there is competition with Texas to attract the company.
Project Target has been identified as a Qualified Target Industry business by Enterprise Florida. Enterprise Florida is a public-private partnership that is the principal economic development organization for the state.
The state, Jaeger told the commissioners, has offered the company $660,000 for employee training, along with a sales tax exemption. The EDA, he said, has offered to give the company eight acres in the Freeport Industrial Park.
Freeport, Jaeger continued, has approved a waiver of administrative fees for the company, and the state has offered a tax refund of $5,000 per new job created.
A 20-percent portion of the latter refund, he detailed, would be required to come from local government. This would come to a $330,000 local government tax refund. While Walton County due to its rural status would have the ability to opt out of this tax refund, doing so would reduce the total tax refund provided to the company by the state, Jaeger explained.
Jaeger suggested that Walton County provide $247,500 (15 percent) of the total tax refund and Freeport $82,500 (5 percent).
Jaeger noted that another offer by Enterprise Florida had been for a waiver of the average wage requirement per applicable Florida Statutes of 115 percent of the Walton County average wage. Instead, according to discussions, the company would commit to pay at least 100 percent of the Walton County average wage, which is $30,398 per employee per year.
“It always comes down to incentives,” Sassano commented. He noted that manufacturing facilities are always targeted because they are the ones that have the most economic impact. He told the commissioners that this is a company that is keen on using suppliers within the local area.
“This is a great project for Walton County,” Sassano said.
Gardner described the commitments discussed as “very typical” of highly-sought projects of this nature.
BCC Chairman Bill Imfeld asked when the company would be making its decision. Jaeger responded that it was his belief that this would occur in June.
District 5 Commissioner Cindy Meadows asked if Freeport wanted the project. Jaeger replied that the city had agreed to elimination of impact fees and administrative fees for the facility and that the Freeport City Council would consider the city’s part of the corporate tax refund on May 28.
Meadows asked about emissions associated with the facility. Jaeger answered that he had been told that this was a clean operation that would use electricity as a power source for the injection technology. He commented that there was no reason to believe that there would be any undesirable environmental impacts.
Jaeger added that the site for the project is “shovel ready.” There is no traffic light on U.S. 331 at what would be the entrance, he said, but he did not expect significant truck traffic associated with the business, although there would be employee traffic.
Jaeger said that a three-shift, 24-7 operation was anticipated.
Asked if local people would be trained for jobs at the facility, Jaeger answered in the affirmative.
District 2 Commissioner Cecilia Jones noted that the commissioners need to do all they can to get jobs for local people.
Meadows expressed disappointment at the low wage level to be committed to and called for the money from the county associated with the tax exemption to be replaced in some manner, possibly from the Mossy Head Industrial Park account. She was concerned that employees would not be able to buy a home at the $30,398 wage level. District 1 Commissioner Bill Chapman also expressed concern about the wage level commitment.
Regarding the wage level, Jaeger commented that the company may well be paying more than the $30,398 per employee that would be committed to. He also said that investors had approached him expressing interest in rental apartment projects for employee housing if the company were to come to Walton County.
Jones moved for approval to proceed with Walton County committing to 15 percent ($247,500) of the tax refund. The motion was seconded by Chapman.
In additional discussion, Gardner commented that the company has been in business for 17 years and that they hire technicians at a certain level along with other levels of employees.
He added that the company is to be approximately 97-percent American owned. Jaeger noted that the CEO is a U.S. citizen.
With the question called, the motion was approved unanimously.
A motion to approve the waiver of the 115-percent of the average Walton County wage as requested was approved in a 4-1 vote, with District 4 Commissioner Sara Comander voting no.
