Seminole mulls job-creation grants
Deloitte asking county for $480K, while Texas-based Microvast seeks $100K
Seminole County is set to dole out up to $580,000 over the next four years to two major companies — Deloitte Consulting and Microvast — if they hire 500 professional employees and pay them an overall average salary of $75,000 a year, according to county documents.
Deloitte, one of the largest technology and business consulting firms in the world, already has received nearly $1.9 million from Seminole County since 2017 as part of previous job growth incentive packages.
This time it is asking for $480,000 to create 400 new positions for the company’s expanding facility in Lake Mary.
While Microvast — a company based in Stafford, Texas, which designs and manufactures electric vehicle batteries — plans to move its research and development operations from the Central Florida Research Park in east Orange County to a 75,000-square-foot building off Greenwood Boulevard in Lake Mary it will buy for about $11 million, according to a contract. It is asking for $100,000 to create 100 new jobs.
Commissioner Jay Zembower praised the incentive packages saying the well-paid workers will live in the area and contribute to the local economy for years.
“The off spill is further economic development [for Seminole County],” he said.
But Commissioner Lee Constantine said he is not so sure that Seminole should continue giving Deloitte taxpayer money every time it plans to hire additional workers.
“We already paid for them to be here, and they have been successful,” Constantine said. “But are we going to have to do this every time they want more jobs? That’s a concern that I have, and they haven’t given me an answer.”
County commissioners are scheduled to discuss and vote on both incentive packages on Tuesday. Constantine said Wednesday that he still had not decided whether he would approve the Deloitte grant.
According to the proposed incentive agreement with Deloitte, the New York-based company will create 400 new positions through 2024 with an average annual salary of $70,556. That’s about 139% of the Seminole’s average annual wage of $50,314.
In return, Seminole will pay Deloitte $1,200 per job after the jobs have been in place for at least two years. Deloitte’s application says the jobs involve computer analytics, coding and data processing.
Deloitte also must make a capital investment of at least $12.6 million, which includes purchasing new equipment, along with renovating and extending the lease for another five years on 50,000 square feet of additional
space at the company’s facility, located at 901 S. International Parkway, Lake Mary.
Deloitte officials did not return calls seeking comment. However, company representatives pointed out in the company’s application titled “Project Blue Sky,” — and have told county officials — that if Deloitte does not receive the incentive money from Seminole, it would expand its other facility in Gilbert, Arizona, instead.
Deloitte first submitted its request for the incentive package to Seminole in early 2020. However, the company pulled back its application months later because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2015, Deloitte was lured to Seminole County with the first round of incentive packages. Since then, the company has created more than 1,000 high-wage jobs at its complex.
Zembower said he would not want to see Deloitte, one of the largest professional employers in Seminole, expand its facility in another region because the county did not give out the incentive package.
“I clearly understand the argument about corporate welfare. And there is an argument to be had there,” he said. “But our incentive package is structured so that they don’t receive the money unless they perform.”
The Microvast incentives were first unanimously approved by commissioners last May when the company planned to move into a building on Sand Pond Road in Lake Mary. Now Microvast has opted for the larger structure on Greenwood Boulevard, just east of Interstate 4 and south of Lake Mary Boulevard, and commissioners have to approve an amended incentive package.
Microvast has agreed to create 100 positions paying an average annual wage of $80,150 through the end of 2025. The company also will spend $7.5 million renovating the building, and purchase $6.5 million worth of machinery and equipment, according to the agreement.
Company officials did not return calls for comment.
“This is a new business to Seminole
“I clearly understand the argument about corporate welfare. And there is an argument to be had there. But our incentive package is structured so that they don’t receive the money unless they perform.”
— Seminole County Commissioner Jay Zembower
County,” said Tricia Johnson, Seminole’s deputy manager in May regarding Microvast. “The company will be required to submit annual reports to the county demonstrating compliance with the grant agreement prior to each payment.”
Formed in 2006, Microvast currently has 1,800 employees at locations throughout the United States, United Kingdom and China. County documents state that Microvast’s facilities in Texas and Tennessee, “were also options for their R&D expansion.”
Commissioner Amy Lockhart also praised the incentive package regarding Microvast.
“Job growth incentives: There are good ones and there not so good ones,” she said. “And the good ones are transparent, and
they provide accountability and a structure that can be followed, and that are measurable. And I think this does all of those things.”
However, regarding Deloitte, Lockhart said the company should be more involved in the community — for example, by working with the school district and Seminole State College in job training programs — rather than just receiving grants from the county.
“I have not yet committed my support,” Lockhart said Thursday regarding the Deloitte incentives. “This is taxpayer money, and I think the taxpayers of Seminole County deserve a good corporate partner and citizen [with Deloitte].”