County Steps up to Support Project Titan

Escambia County partnered with the city and Triumph Gulf Coast yesterday for a project that will provide as many as 4,725 new direct and indirect jobs in our area--a tremendous economic development win for years to come!

Last night the Escambia Board of County Commissioners took the first steps toward providing essential local funds for Project Titan.

Project Titan is the initiative to bring three additional MRO (Maintenance, Renovation, and Overhaul) hangars to the Pensacola International Airport as well as an administrative building over the next 4 years.

Triumph Gulf Coast has stepped up with a conditional approval for $56 Million Dollars toward this $210 Million dollar project.  The company that will be occupying these hangars (ST Engineering Aerospace) will be contributing another $35 Million toward this effort.  Various other funding sources will be needed and are being sought in order to be eligible to receive these triumph funds, and the next big ask comes of the city next Thursday when the Mayor will request $8 Million in funding for the project.

The really beneficial thing about the county's funding is the way the payments are structured and back-loaded to the out-years as follows:

Year 1---$0 net new money from county ($3.2 Million owed to county from city will be credited)
Year 2---$0
Year 3---$2 Million
Year 4---$4.8 Million

If the project holds true to the timeline and schedule, shortly after the county commits the largest out of pocket funding for this project($4.8 Million in FY2022-2023)--the county will within 12 months of this time begin reaping the economic windfall of nearly $3 Million in new revenue yearly from this build up to 1725 jobs resulting from this project. ($2 Million in recurring ad valorem revenue and a nearly $1 Million increase in sales tax revenue)

 If these projections of revenue hold true--within 4 years after the build-out of these hangars, the county's investment will be recouped fully, and the increased ad-valorem and sales tax revenue will continue coming in to the county's coffers as long as this operation is running.

This is a tremendously beneficial and profound project, a fantastic win for Escambia County and Pensacola--glad that the majority of commissioners clearly recognized this as a winning proposition in every respect.