MILTON — A manufacturing company looking to relocate to the industrial park in East Milton has qualified for even more county incentives than were initially approved last month.
Santa Rosa County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to increase the amount of money they would offer to bring 200 high-wage jobs to the county.
“The best thing we can do now is pray that this occurs,” Commissioner Bob Cole said. “It’s a very exciting project, a very stable company.
“You just have to take my word at this point. This is something we’d really like to have in this county,” he added.
The name of the company has not been released. It is being referred to as Project Breeze by the county’s Economic Development Department.
Project Breeze incentive package. >>
County commissioners originally approved two incentive packages for Project Breeze at their Dec. 13 meeting.
The amounts were $60,000 for the local match to the state’s Qualified Target Industry incentive and $200,000 from the county’s Super Qualified Target Industry incentive.
However, those incentives were formulated based on the company offering 100 jobs within its first year in Florida.
“When we first talked about this, they were only looking at the number of jobs they would create in the first year,” Commissioner Don Salter said. “Since then, once they looked at their three-year relocation plan, they would increase the 100 jobs to 200 jobs over a three-year period.”
The new incentives approved Thursday include $120,000 for the local match to the state’s program and $336,000 for the county’s incentive.
In other business, commissioners approved a $15,250 contract with KontactIntelligence.com to lead a nationwide search for a new economic development director.
Santa Rosa has been without a permanent director since Cindy Anderson resigned in February. Shannon Ogletree has been serving as the interim director.
Contact Daily News Business Editor Dusty Ricketts at 850-315-4448 or dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustyRnwfdn.
