LIve Blog: Consolidation Task Force Committee 10/17/2013

[tufsu1]

Also he is related to the young blonde Dan Davis, who just stepped into the role of the Chamber after serving in the Legislature.

correction...Mr. Davis is still in the Legislature...he seems to think he can do both jobs at the same time

[simms3]

Both of them are claiming that incentives are not the biggest reason someone relocates, but instead trained work forces.

So many implications here - like moving costs to relocate or attract employees from higher cost areas where skilled labor tends to congregate.  You can't easily "downgrade" someone's pay in the name of COL (so many people realize their net worth from a move from high cost city to low cost city by retaining a higher percentage of their salary than necessary with the lower COL as companies find it difficult to pay employees making $150K in one location a "meager" $85K in another: probably induces even more sticker shock than someone making $45K in Jax and paying $900 for rent moving to NYC and all of a sudden making $95K and paying $2500 in rent).

All of this of course would be solved if Jax could homegrow the same skilled labor force that companies need, which is where highly educated university-helmed cities such as Atlanta, Nashville, NC cities, New Orleans, and others have a leg up on Jax since they can attract talent before said talent needs to be paid, and then retain this talent, thereby attracting companies who hire these homegrown graduates and paying "market" for the area rather than having to pay "above market" because the company has to import all of its employees.

Kay Ehas

Could you list the top five things in order of priority that companies are looking for?

John Haley answers.  from some list he was given this morning.

1. Labor Cost
2. Highway Accessibility
3. Availability of Skilled Labor
4. Availability of IT Services
5. Occupancy/construction costs

I think #1 = relative to the level of skill you're going to receive.  Sure your local labor force could be cheap, but that doesn't mean that COL is comparatively cheap (creating an imbalance and hindering demand for attracting the right labor force), nor does it mean that your local labor force is appropriately educated/skilled to your needs, despite the fact they may be cheap.

Going back to my comment above, "market pay" occurs when you can attract and retain the appropriately skilled talent for your needs locally.  If you're relocating a sophisticated division requiring a much higher degree of knowledge and skill and so you must shop other cities that are likely more expensive (often considerably), then you're going to have to pay "above market", thus actually increasing your labor costs.

So I don't see why #3 isn't shifted up to #1 since it is the precedent to the #1 in the above list.

the other incentive is the QTI Program:

Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund Program (QTI) – Designed to encourage the creation of high-skill jobs and encourage the growth of corporate headquarters and other targeted industries. QTI provides a tax refund of $3,000 per new job created in Florida through the expansion of existing Florida businesses or the location of new ones. (This increases to $6,000 per job within an Enterprise Zone or Rural County). A business is eligible for a $1,000 per job bonus if it pays over 150% average wage in the area, and a $2,000 per job bonus if over 200%. Projects must be supported by their community to the amount of 20% of the incentive.

I can't possibly imagine that being effective at all.  It's not really an incentive to hire a higher-waged skilled-labor workforce.

[thelakelander]

how does Jacksonville stack up; and is our local government aware of what it takes and are they doing anything about it.

Maybe nNo answer was given because the answer is pant pulling down embarrassing

Yeah, I don't think we have a clue, which is kind of disconcerting since the data is out there.  As for SJTC, most cities have multiple lifestyle centers like that in their suburban areas.  I really don't understand why we continue to attempt to compare a shopping center with the urban core.  They are two different animals altogether.  The quicker we accept that, the better off economically we'll be.

[Noone]

Good information. Thanks for the updates.

[thelakelander]

To be honest, simms, the comments from the economic development portion of todays meeting were just jaw dropping.

Could you elaborate more? Jaw dropping in what way?