Plans for about 600 new jobs by two companies are on the Thursday agenda for the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
First Coast Service Options Inc., formerly the government programs division of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc., seeks incentives of more than $3 million to create 395 full-time jobs by Dec. 31, 2012, at 532 Riverside Ave., where it already leases space and would lease more.
It’s called Project Riverview on the JEDC project summary report.
First Coast, with more than 1,000 employees at its Riverside Avenue offices, is competing for administrative contract to provide Medicare payment processing for beneficiaries in seven more states.
The Bruss Co. of Chicago, dubbed Project Pittsburgh, seeks incentives of $1.2 million for a meat-processing plant.
First Coast Service Options seeks a Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund of $3,357,500, or $8,500 per job, because of its average wages of about $46,859 and also because of its location in an Enterprise Zone and Brownfield Area.
The City would account for $671,500 of the QTI, while the state would pick up the remaining 80 percent, or $2,686,000.
In addition to the wages, First Coast would offer an average benefits package of $15,000.
It proposes a $1.9 million investment in machinery, equipment, information technology, furniture and fixtures in the additional space it would lease.
Bruss, a subsidiary of Tyson Foods Inc., reports that it is evaluating a Jacksonville site to expand its meat processing operations, which would add 200 jobs within five years at an average annual wage of $31,000, plus benefits of $8,000.
Bruss proposes to invest $7.2 million to buy, renovate and equip a 47,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse building at 5441 W. Fifth St.
Bruss seeks a Brownfield Redevelopment Bonus tax refund of $500,000, a Northwest Jacksonville Large Scale Economic Development Grant of $400,000 and $300,000 from the state’s Quick Response Training Program.
The City’s portion of the incentive would be $500,000 — $100,000 from the Brownfield tax refund and the $400,000 Northwest grant.
The JEDC will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday in the Mayor’s office fourth-floor conference room in City Hall.
By way of background, First Coast Service Options provides management consultant services and serves as a Medicare Administrative Contractor for 2.3 million Medicare beneficiaries and 88,000 health care providers in Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the JEDC.
It currently processes about 85 million claims a year totaling $19 billion in Medicare payments.
JEDC staff asks the commission to authorize introduction of legislation to City Council for the incentives.
356-4266