The Value of Economic Development as a Core Governmental Function

At the most recent District 1 Town Hall Meetings held--a large majority of citizens signaled agreement with economic development incentives given by the county to companies for the creation of good jobs locally.

Over the last month or so, there has been a group of citizens, elected officials, community leaders and others involved in the process to replace outgoing Florida West CEO Scott Luth.

Along the way this ad hoc committee has looked at the resumes and LinkdIn profiles of dozens of leaders in economic development around the country--folks that have submitted resumes for the opening at Florida West.

This past week the finalists have been interviewed by this panel.

The meetings were open to the public and attended by one member of the media and one member of the public outside of the committee.

But reading what these men and women have accomplished in their respective communities in terms of capital investment won and jobs created is an amazing testament to the value and need for economic development as a core function of local municipalities and counties.

Some small factions may disagree--but those who understand the issue and have seen the fruits of this labor understand that yes, this is an important governmental function.

And the general public, by and large, gets it, too.

At my last several town hall meetings, I have asked the question

"Do you support the county offering tax credits to lure big businesses to our area for job creation"

to which I was met with a sea of green "agree" cards being held high in the air.

So the folks in the business get it, the informed community gets it, the county and the city get it, and others who are shown the information understand it.

Interestingly--the very few who don't get it or who do understand it but for whatever reason don't support economic development--they are the ones who purposely outed a confidential deal a few years back that would have brought dozens of jobs and more than a million dollars in capital investment to our area.

Some of these folks also don't apparently "get" the concept of keeping confidential information confidential.

Election Night Vindication!

Many believe last night's election results validate the direction the BCC is going with respect to the operation of the county.  I tend to agree....

I was asked to appear on last night's live election coverage on the area's best, most trusted, most accurate, and most listened to news talk station--- WCOA 1370AM.  Rick Outzen was anchoring the show and the focus of our brief discussion, after speaking of the Governor's HUGE election victory, as well as Senator Rubio's win-- was on the vindication the county can take from a couple of the local election results.

--Commissioner Robert Bender, the only incumbent commissioner on the ballot, defeated his challenger Myra Van Hoose by nearly 20 points.

--The county's EDATE ballot measure passed by a 10-point margin.

These were profound outcomes--as some in the community (and at least 12 on one facebook chat site) were "all-in" for Bender's opponent and were smearing Robert Bender all over the place unfairly.  Bender's opponent even launched an attack ad on radio that was fact barren, full of lies, and nothing but an ad hominem attack.  It backfired on her spectacularly--- to the point that from this point forward she'll simply be known as #MyraVanWho?  She lied in the ad and said "The commissioner's voted to increase their pay" which is a bald-faced lie!  The state sets our salary.  It was an attack on Bender--but also a smear job on the rest of us.  It was total BS,

The same voices and Bender's opponent tried their best to kill the county's EDATE initiative--but they had no sway and carried no influence whatsoever with voters (or anyone else) and therefore the EDATE ballot measure easily passed for another 10 year run.  Thank You to the voters for that!!!! Thank You!!!

While on the show, Rick asked somewhat rhetorically "Doesn't this outcome sort of validate the direction the county is going and also--doesn't it point out that negative campaigning in local Escambia races doesn't work?"  To which I agreed and elaborated in response and in support of his theory/thought.  Robert's been unfairly attacked, he is a good person, a nice person, and a hard worker on this board.  He didn't do anything wrong and he didn't deserve (nor did his family, nor did Angela Crawley) the garbage lies spewed from these haters and his opponent.   And a lot of lies have been told about the retirment plan (which lies will be brought to the light of truth once the lawsuit is settled), and again---the radio attack ad on Bender and the rest of the Commissioners was nthing but a big fat disgusting hatchet job--I'm glad it backfired.

It was vindication.  More vindication to come--stay tuned!

EDATES Matter: VOTE YES on the County Referendum for Them on Election Day

$1.2 Billion in Capital Investment and the creation of over 10,000 jobs was the outcome achieved via Escambia's strategic use of EDATES to help incentivize the world's largest Credit Union, Navy Federal Credit Union, to massively expand in Escambia County's District 1

Sandra Averheart from WUWF asked me my thoughts on the upcoming election ballot referendum on EDATES (Economic Development Ad-Valorem Tax Exemptions)

I have long been a proponent of EDATES because I understand them and know they are a powerful tool in our Economic Development tool box for attracting and retaining investment and jobs in Escambia County.

In April we, the BCC,  put this initiative forward for addition on the Ballot in the upcoming November General Election.  I discussed my rationale for strongly supporting EDATES at that time. 

Yesterday afternoon's post by WUWF captures and reiterates the important and positive aspects of EDATES.  From that post:

"The EDATE incentive program was first approved for use in Escambia County and the City of Pensacola in 1992 and last renewed in 2012.

The EDATE is an Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption. It’s a tool in our tool kit that we can utilize to incentivize job creation,” said Jeff Bergosh, chairman of the Escambia County Commission.

While the exemption does not apply to taxes that go to the Escambia County School District, EDATE allows for a 10-year period of no property taxes to the county, in exchange for some measurable outcomes such as job creation and capital investment.

“I believe it’s a great thing for our community, certainly a great thing for schools — and almost a necessity these days — as every community has to compete for these top-end flagship job creators,” declared Bergosh, recalling the lack of good job opportunities when he entered the workforce in the 1980s.

“I think folks realize that if we want good jobs, if you want to keep your kids, keep them with the ability to stay in Pensacola after they graduate, we got to continue diversifying the jobs base here.”

EDATES Bring Jobs: Voters will Decide if We Maintain the Ability to Keep Using Them

There will be a referendum on EDATES on the November ballot for the voters' consideration.

The BCC voted unanimously in April to add this to the ballot to give us an additional 10 years with the ability to utilize EDATES for economic development purposes when it makes sense to do so.

We would not have NFCU nor their 9,000 jobs and $1.2 Billion in capital investment if it were not for EDATES.

There have been multiple other, highly beneficial projects to our community that would not have happened were it not for our ability to offer EDATES to incentivize investment and job creation in our county.

I have been (and continue to be) a staunch supporter of EDATES for certain projects;  I am hoping the voters see the benefit(s)  of this powerful economic development tool for us and that they vote "yes."

Because EDATES bring jobs and investments--but only the voters of our county will decide if the BCC will maintain the ability to keep using them.  This happens in a little over a month. 

read a quick primer on EDATES here

Today the PAC that is supporting this effort sent out mailers to selected registered voters urging a "yes" vote on the November ballot question.  See their mailer, below.

Out To Lunch......

For anyone to say EDATES' profound positive impacts on our community provide no benefit to the average citizen is a postition that is uninformed, ignorant, and incorrect.  It is an opinion that's "Out to Lunch."--and when stated at a public meeting will be immediately challenged with the truth and facts.

Yesterday the Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved the addition of an EDATE (Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption) extension referendum, for a 10 year period, to be added to the general election ballot this November.  

EDATE's are simply one economic development tool in our "tool kit" of incentives that allow for time limited (10 years maximum) forgiveness of some county ad valorem taxes in exchange for certain committments by large employers in our area.  These are allowed under statute, but the voters must approve these every ten years.  And the tax forgiveness only applies to county taxes--such businesses that receive EDATES must still pay 100% of school taxes from day one.  So these are actually good for us--but even better for the school board.

And not every economic development deal we do includes EDATES.  ST Engineering Aerospace, for instance, didn't get one.  Others have done deals to build jobs here without EDATES.  But still others required the use of EDATES to either keep an employer here, induce an employer to come, facilitate a developer to build (As the case was for Quint Studer's 'SouthTowne' building downtown) or to allow for an existing employer to expand their footprint.

A couple of years back the BCC was being relentlessly attacked by our liberal daily paper's cartoonist over EDATES.  And I pushed back with a three part series of posts that completely and thoroughly explained EDATES, described and provided documents about the then current EDATES the county had outstanding, and in the process totally obliterated ignorant Andy Marlette's position on EDATES.

Now we are asking citizens to renew our ability to offer these selectively and judiciously when and if they are appropriate------- and one member of the board is apparently staunchly, stridently opposed.

That's fine--one member of the BCC can say whatever he wants and in his circle of influence he can

EDATES--Good for the Economy Part III

As I have discussed in part I and part II of this series of blog posts on EDATES--I generally am supportive of them because in most instances they are good for the economy and they help us attract targeted industries and diversify the jobs base.  The local newspaper apparently dislikes EDATES, judging from the vicious way in which they attacked International Paper for receiving their EDATE (which has expired, by the way and is no longer in force)  Late last week we received the most up to date list of all current EDATES, and I am listing them below.  It appears as if most are set to expire in the next 1-2 year period with the exception of one that will be in effect through 2028.  I wonder if the newspaper will be as vicious and aggressive toward ALL EDATES---or will their vitriol only be reserved for the EDATES for organizations they "dislike?"  Here is the current list....

Business                                                                          Expiration

Ascend Performance Materials                                        2022

Daily Convo, LLC                                                            2028

Gelman Sciences, Inc.                                                      2019

Genesis Property Holdings                                              2019

Landworks Investments, LLC                                          2019

Lewis Bear Co. (Bear Marcus Pointe, LLC)                   2021

NFCU Phase II                                                                 2019

NFCU Phase III                                                                2020

NFCU Phase IV                                                                2021

Rodney Rich and Co.                                                        2019

Regardless of the media's support or non-support of EDATES--whether or not the County Commissioners can have the power to grant these economic development incentives must be authorized by a vote of the citizens of our county.  Our current authority to grant EDATES will expire in 2022.

There is a possibility that the question of whether or not to authorize EDATES may be placed on the 2020 ballot.  This will be up to the Board of County Commissioners to make this decision.

Andy Got Catfished! Marlette Manipulation 22.0

In an unusual twist  and a departure from reality and what typically occurs in real life-- Andy Marlette appears to willingly allow himself to be "Catfished"...luckily the rest of us are not quite as gullible......

Cartoonist Andy Marlette just loves to let me rent space in his head.  It is so funny.  Between his never ending barrage of attacks on Christianity, our President, the First Lady, our Congressman, our State Representatives, Well-established and well-respected local employers, and others that are conservative-he still manages to do cartoon after cartoon about me...One after another.  I'm almost like a "regular" in his rotation, LOL.

Apparently--he also likes to be "Catfished", as evidenced by today's cartoon of me that he did and which I have improved above.

You see, Andy's compromised, conscripted.

He takes money from people and does their ideological  bidding.  He intimates in his cartoon of me today that I do likewise.

Of course, this simply is not true.  I have never taken anything of value, not one thin dime, from International Paper.  Nothing, nada.  What I have done is meet with the experts at FDEP who dispute Andy's propaganda about IP.  Then I met with IP executives and toured their facilities and saw the wetlands firsthand. I requested a tour to learn about what was going on (Something, ironically, that neither the PNJ nor Andy Marlette has requested from IP).  I am paying for independent analysis of water samples from the bay in an attempt to validate the findings.  I look into things and I do research, I do NOT let folks just get over on me--because I am an independent free thinker.....

Sadly, the same thing cannot be said of Andy Marlette.  He takes money from his Patron du jour-whomever that happens to be at any given time--- and allows himself to be used like the tool that he is.  Sound's kinda like the world's second oldest profession.   And Andy really likes it!

Yes--he has already been catfished by whomever his "Patron" Du Jour is today--and maybe he doesn't even realize it?

Yes, yes, anyone who he is told to keep the gloves on with----or who pays him--- and Andy subserviently, obsequiously, and like a good boy does just that.  No cartoons. No dumb articles.  He is very, very obedient.

Everyone else is a target though--particularly if Andy's Patron says so and doesn't like the target.

But here is something for Andy's microscopically small brain to ponder:   What if Andy's Patron du jour is/was the real bad guy, or at a minimum an opportunist and a user--or a fake or a phony?  What

EDATES--Good for our Economy, Part II

EDATES allow the county to give valuable incentives to targeted industries in exchange for job-creation and footprint expansion.  This is not a bad thing, this is a GOOD THING!

In part one of this series I talked about the recent baseless and ignorant attacks on EDATES from the local media.

In this post, I want to talk specifics about EDATES....who gets them locally, what it costs the taxpayers in unrealized ad valorem revenue, and the value created by the BCC approving these agreements.

The complete list of all recipients of EDATES locally are contained on the spreadsheets here, here, here, and here.  The spreadsheets, provided to me by the county's budget and finance department, highlight the areas where we exempt taxes;  County, Library MSBU, and the Sheriff's MSTU.  In the header of the vertical columns, you will see the value of the  subject property to be exempted, expressed in three ways:

1.   Market Value of the Property
2.   Assessed Value of the Property
3.  The Amount of the total Assessed Value that will be Exempted via the EDATE

At the far right, the value of the exemption received is listed, and at the bottom of the sheet the grand total of all exemptions is listed.  For the four years I have included, the average yearly total of these exemptions given (which equates to the unrealized tax revenue)-is roughly $1.7 Million Annually.

Some things to consider when looking at EDATES as an economic development tool:

1.  The period of the incentive is capped at 10 years, after which time full tax is paid on full taxable value of real property.
2.  There is a ying and a yang to these agreements; something is given by the county, and for that something is given by the entity receiving the EDATE (additional jobs commitments usually)
3.  The local School Board receives full tax revenue on the full taxable value of properties that the County provides EDATES to, from day one of the agreement (school taxes cannot be diminished via EDATES under statute, and neither can the Fire MSBU)
4.  The county does not have to give EDATE exemptions on the full amount of the taxable value of a property; the BCC can give an exemption on a portion of the value and collect taxes on the rest--and this happens frequently.

Look over the list of recipients on the spreadsheets I have linked.  These are good companies, that pay good wages and support thousands of jobs locally!

When IP received their EDATE in May of 2008 (before any current member of the BCC was on the board)--it was given in exchange for a massive expansion of their production and an investment of over $200 Million dollars to their plant.  It was supported unanimously at the time, and signed by my predecessor's predecessor, Mike Whitehead, then chairman of the board and D1 Commissioner.  It did give IP an exemption of roughly $1.6 Million yearly for 10 years.  And this exemption has expired as of 1/1/2018.  With IP supporting 500 personnel and 100 contractor personnel and having an economic impact in our area that is calculated to be $250 Million annually over the last ten years--I believe what the BCC did in 2008 was a good move----especially given the dire circumstances nationally that were occurring at that time....Someone should wake up and remind the local media personalities about the great recession of 2008 that served as a backdrop to this BCC decision of 2008, and tell them it's easy to play Monday morning quarterback but not easy to make tough decisions in real time--and this is what distinguishes the "doers"  (us) from the "pundits" and "gadflys" and "critics" (them).

EDATEs--Good for our Economy, Part I

Fake News Media locally is now attacking EDATES.  They are so ravenous in their new attack they have overlooked the fact that several of us on the dias didn't even vote for these--we inherited them.  Fake News.

Reading some of the garbage in the news lately can bring on a migraine style Excedrin Headache fast.  I mean really fast.

Because a lot of it is garbage, pure rubbish. 

Much of it is opinion blended with half truth, spiced with innuendo, and topped off with ad hominem attacks.  Pertinent facts are left out, lies are inserted, other issues are hyper-exaggerated, and the overall goal becomes to enrage the reader--not inform the reader.

At it's core, it is nothing more than opinions paraded as news designed to stir up animosity toward "some" elected officials. 

Local print media has changed and evolved, and it is now all about "hits" and "clicks" and "shares" and other statistics that lead and compel writers to stir division, stoke anger, push boundaries and run up the click counts--hoping for the next big "viral" story.  This is also how the writers are compensated in many instances--it becomes a glorified "popularity contest."

Good news stories by and large do not stir big numbers, and this leaves attack pieces and contrived controversies to carry the slack.

A recently departed PNJ reporter, who actually wrote really well and put out good stories, is no longer there because the pieces written by this individual, according to someone with whom I spoke who is very familiar, just did not stir up enough clicks. 

So now the focus is not on who, what, when, and where--it is  "Let's Get Salacious and Controversial!!!---Let's Get CLICKS!!" 

Take for instance this tripe about EDATES for area employers.  Somehow, this is now twisted into some kind of a bad thing for our area and economy.  This is an opinion piece, but it infuses some information purported to be factual, and devolves into one messy, sloppy attack piece. 

The target?  County Commissioners like me who support economic development and EDATES.

(EDATE stands for  economic development ad valorem tax exemption.  You can read all about them here.  What they are, how they came to be, what they are for, and how they are approved.) 

We have a number of companies that currently receive these incentives, and over the past four years we have exempted an average of $1.6 Million annually from these employers.

And for this, we generate jobs in manufacturing, we incentivize expansion of existing footprints, we get agreements for new equipment to be purchased and put on line locally, and we diversify our jobs base.  These are good, tangible results for the revenue we forego.

In one instance and for one company--we have exempted millions of dollars with EDATES.  We have also paid incentives from a different pot for additional jobs to be added.  With this one company--that total may well approach $50 Million Dollars in incentives.  And for that, we have a company that has invested $1.2 Billion in facility construction locally and employs 8,000 Escambian's currently with an annual payroll of $400 Million Dollars!  So yes, this incentivization pays back for years and decades to come--it pays back in spades.  No mention of this in the Sunday attack piece, though.

International Paper is now targeted because they have received EDATES for equipment purchases.  I am told by a source very familiar that the large investment made by IP may have gone to a different location were it not for a generous EDATE provided by our county a number of years back (before I was elected to this board).  Had that investment gone elsewhere--there is no guarantee the new IP jobs (or the existing jobs) would have stayed in Pensacola.  So now we have IP with 500 employees, 100 Contractor Employees, and a $250 Million Dollar yearly economic impact in our area --and the cartoonist is mad about the less than a Million dollars yearly over the last 20 years that we have exempted for IP.  Do the math for yourself, do not simply buy what the cartoonist wants to feed you in his ill-conceived, slanted, half-truth hatchet pieces.  He is a biased partisan hack, nothing more.

The intelligent strategy, looking at what IP has invested and what they are working to accomplish here in Escambia County-- is to keep their jobs here and work with IP to help them come into compliance with the environmental regulations that are required.   It is simple, it is a no-brainer.  It's what we are doing and IP is following the process to do this and they are in compliance with the law.

More about our EDATES in part II....