The Sarasota County, Fla., Commission on Tuesday approved an up-to $180,000 Economic Development Incentive Grant to lure the unidentified company that says it wants to house new software product development and back office functions to its jurisdiction.
The project, under the code name Project Strasburg, states the company will pay a minimum average starting wage of $85,958 for full-time employees, which would double the 2017 average wage for the Sarasota-Manatee region.
The company's capital investment here would be $150,000 for equipment over the next five years, according to the proposal.
"The company offers a patented subscription-based software service that provides continuous workforce risk evaluation of individual and public records, and which automatically alerts an organization when relevant risk emerges," the proposal states.
Such information technology businesses are targeted by local economic development promoters as clean industries that pay higher-than-average wages.
The company said it would not expand into the county without the incentive funding to offset costs. The agreement said it will undertake "best efforts" to hire Sarasota County residents for at least half the jobs. Founded in 2017, the company now employs 22, county officials said.
The county grant money will be disbursed after the company documents job creation performance over an eight-year period.
Sarasota isn't the only county offering incentives to create new jobs.
Last week the Manatee County, Fla., Commission approved $37,604 in impact fee incentives for a $3.1 million expansion of a warehouse and distribution facility tentatively labeled "Project Camber."
The addition is to generate 10 new jobs paying $46,099 plus benefits, 115% of the county's average annual wage.
For competitive reasons, the identity of the business is not revealed until it starts hiring.
©2019 Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fla. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
