by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The framework of a new development incentive policy is slowly emerging from the City’s ongoing overhaul of the JEDC.
The discussions among the four committees charged by the mayor with evaluating every aspect of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission have so far produced more broad strokes than fine print. One almost certain product of the review will be an objective scoring system that the JEDC will use to evaluate how likely a project is to bring jobs and higher wages to the City. Still to be determined is how the commission will arrive at those scores.
The Finance Advisory Committee deferred much of the detail work during its Thursday meeting. But it took steps toward defining what kind of jobs the City will pursue with its incentives and where it wants those jobs to go.
The committee tentatively agreed that the JEDC should factor in a job’s benefits when deciding whether it was worth pursuing. JEDC executive director Kirk Wendland said it would be difficult for his staff to verify benefits packages, but the committee largely agreed that employers who offer benefits were assets to the City and its workforce.
“Benefits like health insurance relieves the City of costs like providing indigent health care,” said Charles Appleby, the committee’s chair and a JEDC commissioner.
Wendland also sparred with several committee members over the JEDC’s measurement of average wages. The JEDC will evaluate potential projects based partially on the average wage of the jobs created and several committee members worried that including high-paying executive jobs would skew the numbers.
“If the owner makes $500,000 and five employees make $10,000, the numbers will look darn good on an application, but I don’t know if that kind of situation benefits the City,” said Appleby.
Committee member Alvin Brown, president of the Willie Gary Football Classic, supported Appleby and the committee generally agreed that the JEDC should distinguish between management salaries and those at lower levels. When a company relocates to Jacksonville, locals are most likely to fill the lower end of the pay scale, while most of the executive jobs will transfer, they reasoned.
The debate left Wendland shaking his head. Attracting high-paying jobs, he said, was one of Mayor John Peyton’s primary goals. Even if executives relocate with the companies, Wendland said they still invest much of their paycheck locally:
“What I’m struggling with is we’re trying to recruit and expand higher-wage jobs, but we’re going to exclude those jobs from the accounting,” said Wendland.
Appleby countered: “In my twisted accountant mind, that makes sense to me.” He suggested limiting how much executive pay the City would consider.
The committee also debated how the City could increase its financial return on its incentives, particularly on projects where the City is providing a majority of the capital.
“These developers are businessmen. They’re going to take whatever they can get. They need to know there’s a cost,” said Appleby. “The more they reach to grab, the more the City should be able to take out of their back pocket.”
Committee member Randy Chesak, executive vice president of SunTrust Bank, questioned how many opportunities would exist for substantial revenue sharing. “If the upside is new jobs, how does the City participate,” he asked. He recommended the City might instead penalize poor performers with increasing interest rates on loans.