Advanced Disposal Services Inc. will receive a $695,000 incentives package to support its headquarters expansion in Jacksonville and create 85 jobs following City Council approval Tuesday.
The deal was not on Council’s original agenda, but was added later after the Council Finance Committee earlier in the day approved the deal to move on.
Questions about potential hosting fees owed to the City because of non-recycled waste tonnage caused the hang-up of the legislation, approved by two other committees, in Finance.
Following several smaller meetings, questions about the legal definition of “recycling” and comments about what state rules were currently being imposed on the subject, the
committee approved 4-1 with Council member John Crescimbeni casting the lone opposing vote.
Of the approved request, $595,000 would come from the Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund program and include a High Impact Sector bonus, with the City contributing $119,000 and the state paying the remaining $476,000.
An additional $100,000 would be a Recapture Enhanced Value, also known as a REV grant, paid by the City for property taxes and investment already paid.
Charlie Appleby, CEO and board of directors chair for Advanced Disposal, told the Finance Committee that the 85 jobs created would be a mixture of employees from acquired companies in different cities and locals.
The company is also considering relocating its headquarters, currently in the Baymeadows area, to Atlanta, Milwaukee or Charlotte, N.C.
Jacksonville Lime LLC also received an incentives deal for a total of $1.19 million to construct a lime manufacturing plant and create 22 jobs. The plant would also mean a $36 million investment from the company, according to legislation.
The package consists of a $1.136 million REV grant and a $55,000 Brownfield Redevelopment Bonus program incentive. The City would pay $11,000 of the bonus, with the state paying the remaining $44,000, and the entire REV grant.
The Jacksonville Lime deal was on the Council consent agenda.
Also mostly on the consent agenda were the appointments for the members of the Downtown Investment Authority, the newly created authority that will oversee Downtown’s revitalization efforts. Of the nine members, only two — Mayor Alvin Brown appointees Melody Bishop and Kay Harper — were voted on individually, with Council member Matt Schellenberg voicing disproval. He has cited Bishop’s marriage to Council President Bill Bishop and Harper’s two-year residency in Jacksonville not being long enough, as his concerns.
Also from Tuesday’s full Council meeting:
• Legislation to expand the City’s Mobility Fee moratorium for an additional year was not on the agenda, but more than two dozen residents turned out to preemptively voice their disapproval of continuing the hiatus. Discussion about potential legislation being passed on as an emergency measure arose before the meeting, but Bill Bishop said before public comment that no such legislation had been introduced and no action would be taken on it if it had. The moratorium on the fees waive developer and construction fees on new construction that would provide funding for current infrastructure improvements, but Council last year waived the fees hoping to spur the local economy.
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