the market minute
(**transcribed from audio – linked above**) hello and welcome to the market minute. this is eric odum. i’m the principal commercial real estate broker for Florida ROI Commercial Property Brokerage in tampa, fl, and today i wanted to talk a little bit about economic incentives in the greater tampa bay area.
i had the opportunity to sit down with danielle ruiz yesterday from the tampa hillsborough economic development corporation. for those that don’t know, the economic development corporation is the primary economic development team serving hillsborough county, the city of tampa, plant city, temple terrace. these are the folks that strive to create jobs in the area. they are trying to make sure that the area has the facilities and the infrastructure it needs to facilitate business growth.
danielle is the director of business retention and expansion and part of her job is to administer and educate the public on the incentive packages that are available: federal, state and local municipality incentives. in talking with her, i learned of a pretty staggering incentive for small business…..existing small businesses in the area that i’m fairly certain most people don’t know about. i certainly had never heard of it before. it’s called the small business job creation program.
here’s the deal. it’s available to already existing businesses located in hillsborough county with ten (10) or fewer employees that are seeking to hire new employees. the county will offer a reimbursement package. in other words this is not a tax credit or a tax deduction. this is a reimbursement…..the lesser of $3,900 or 50% of the wage that’s going to be paid to that employee for the first three (3) months on the job. so, think about that for a moment. if you have a company that’s on the edge of hiring, you’re maybe a little concerned about what’s happening with the economy, what better way to make you feel a little bit better about taking the leap and hiring that person than an incentive that’s going to pay for up to half of their wages, or $3,900, whichever is less? it’s a great deal. now she [danielle] gave me some examples of how this might work. the eligible company, as i’ve already stated, has to be small….has to be existing, it also has to be doing business outside of the state of florida. so, let’s take a look at a web design company, for example. a number of different types of corporations can be eligible for the incentive. but, let’s look at a web design company. let’s assume that they serve the local market. they design web pages for local restaurants and that’s all they do. now that company is not going to qualify for the incentive. they have to be doing some form of business outside of the state.
now lets take that company headquartered here in tampa, and they’re doing business websites for companies (locally, but they are also doing business with companies) in atlanta, new orleans, and new york. it doesn’t really matter where, as long as they are conducting business outside of the state. this company is eligible for the reimbursement. as i’ve said before, this is the first time i’ve heard of this incentive and i’m fairly knowledgeable about different incentive packages and things that are going on in hillsborough and the greater tampa bay area in regards to economic development. i just think this is a great opportunity for local existing businesses that are on the edge of hiring employees but are a little bit concerned about the economy, a little bit concerned about taking that leap because they don’t know what the future holds….what better opportunity are you going to have than this reimbursement program that is going to pay you back for up to 50% or $3,900 per month for the first three (3) months that you’ve hired that person, back in the business’ pocket?
check it out. i’m going to include a link on our web page which is www.roireal.estate .
i think that you’re going to be surprised about this incentive and it is something small businesses in the area should definitely know about.
join us next time for the market minute. i’m eric odum, principal commercial real estate broker, tampa, florida.
click here to learn more: http://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/index.aspx?nid=1588
