EDC Criteria Do Not Require Job Creation Or High Wages
The county has been asked to contribute $ 40,463 and the City of Sanford has been asked to contribute an additional $ 29,673 over five years as in incentive for a proposed expansion by 3M of a $ 2.6 million investment, about $ 1.5 million of that will be in new equipment and an additional $ 1.1 million will be in building renovations. The contract for the incentives requires 3M to employ "up to 10 workers". What does "up to" mean? It means the maximum and it is one of those cut phrases in ads like "up to 5 in each store." After this was pointed out, Economic Development Director Bob Heuts explained that the the criteria for incentives does not require the creation of jobs. Moreover, the jobs that may or may not be created need only have an average salary equal to the average weekly wage. That is currently $14.53 an hour.
It is a pretty good bet that if you ask most Lee County citizens what business incentives are about they would say attracting "more jobs and/or higher pay." As evidenced by the 3M proposal, they can be about neither.
Here's the real deal: The new building and equipment increases the tax base so the city and county get more tax revenue. In order to make sure they get that revenue here they agree to rebate half of it back to the company for five years. Who "makes up" for that special tax rebate--all the other tax payers.
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