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Readers
The article "How Much Is A Job Worth?" in your November 1996 issue makes reference to Palm Beach County's job incentive program with the phrase, "avoid Palm Beach-type embarrassments." While there were unfortunate events (MediBar went out of business about one year after receiving a grant and Scott Paper merged with Kimberly Clark several months after signing an incentive contract), they do not diminish the success of the county's program.
In 1993, Palm Beach County, like the rest of Florida, was mired in the recession. Our county commission could have sat back and said there is nothing we can do. Instead, they called an economic summit of county business leaders to meet with the commission and recommend action. From that summit came the Palm Beach County Job Growth Incentive Fund.
This year, Palm Beach Atlantic College's Rinker School of Business completed an economic study that analyzes the fiscal impact of corporate relocation and expansion projects assisted by the county's Business Development Board (BDB) from October 1993 through May 1996.
The study looked at 98 companies the BDB worked with over that period, including 33 that received Job Growth Incentive (JGI) grants from Palm Beach County to locate their companies here rather than in a competing state or county. The study separated these 33 companies to ascertain our return on incentive funds.
The 33 companies received incentive awards totaling $5.5 million and created 3,967 primary jobs in the county and another 3,607 ancillary or induced jobs, for a total of 7,574 new jobs. The JGI expenditure per job was $1,391, while the return was $1,585 for each primary job alone, and $3,026 if induced jobs are included. The 33 JGI projects contributed more than $10.2 million per year in local property taxes, another $1.7 million in other taxes, and they absorbed more than 2 million square feet of commercial/industrial space - 1,266,500 square feet of existing space and 776,000 square feet of new construction.
The average salary of created jobs was $30,683, which is 15% higher than the county average and 28% higher than the state average. Compared with totals for all 98 companies, the 33 companies that received incentive grants accounted for more than 60% of the $1.3 billion annual economic impact and 57% of all new jobs.
The tone of your article paints public incentive programs as ill-conceived, lacking tangible results and as a poor investment of taxpayer dollars. Palm Beach Atlantic College's study clearly demonstrated that the JGI program, with a payback time of less than one year, has been a successful investment.
Instead of taking shots at a program of great worth (without even interviewing us) try acknowledging the contribution Palm Beach County is making to Florida's recruiting, retention and expansion efforts. We don't exist to compete with neighboring counties - we react to the marketplace.
If Enterprise Florida is to succeed (and I am confident it will), it is incumbent on all of us in this business to help construct the most productive environment in which business and quality jobs can thrive. If our efforts require incentives, then what is the problem?
Larry Pelton
President, Business Development
Board of Palm Beach County
West Palm Beach
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Tough Job
If you think John Anderson has the toughest job in Florida [John Berry's Florida Close-up, November 1996], you need to get out of the office and try visiting the real world.
Go see Harry Christensen in Longboat Key and find out what it's like to own and operate a restaurant. Or visit Eddie Morton in Sarasota and talk to him about finding dependable help. Or ask Robby, the owner of the Longbeach BP in Longboat Key, what it's like to run his service station and feed a family, not to mention his employees' families.
Now, let me see if I understand this: Floridians and Florida businesses (which really means their shareholders and customers) are paying Mr. Anderson $190,000 a year to conduct a bunch of meetings around the state? You call that tough? I call that great work if you can get it.
P.S. Glad to see you point out the folly of Florida spending $1.36 billion on business tax breaks and incentives ["How Much Is A Job Worth?" November 1996]. Perhaps you will also come around someday on the folly of Enterprise Florida.
Matt Walsh
Editor & Publisher, The Longboat Observer
(Former Editor, Florida Trend)
Longboat Key
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Silicon Beach
I agree that Florida has an image challenge [Florida Close-up, November 1996]. With a toehold on the "build it and they will come" philosophy, we set upon the challenge of a "Silicon Beach Exposition" here in Okaloosa County last September to allow the surrounding community to meet and learn from Internet service providers and other high-tech vendors. We thought the exposition name could attract interest to the area.
On a larger scale, we need to position the state as a "Silicon Beach" if we are going to attract the microchip industry. With sand being the source of silicon, there are few labels that better capture the essence of where we would like to position this state.
Scott T. Jackson
Information Strategies
Destin
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Up In Smoke
I just finished reading your piece about Florida's pending suit against the tobacco companies for Medicaid costs of smoking-related illnesses ["Where There's Smoke," October 1996]. Since I've observed the legislative and political processes for some time now, I thought I'd seen some incredible displays of sanctimony and arrogance in the past, but they simply can't compare to some of the jewels in your article.
Dexter Douglass [Gov. Chiles' general counsel]: "We can win. Remember, Hitler had never been beaten until we came in and kicked his butt." Did I miss something in WWII history? Did the American Academy of Trial Lawyers sue Hitler into submission? Wow, if only Ike had known, we wouldn't have had to sacrifice all the brave souls who lost their lives around the world.
[Attorney] Bob Kerrigan: "We're doing something special. There aren't many times in life when you can really do something special." I guess the contingency share of a billion-dollar settlement is special to any trial lawyer. Helps you forget about defending unsavory characters who murder without provocation.
[Attorney] Mike Maher: "We're not going to put self-interest above the goal." And here I was, thinking self-interest was the goal. Thanks, Mr. Maher for setting me straight.
Perhaps it's just me, but won't jurors consider it more than a little hypocritical that the state, which officially sanctioned tobacco sales for years and collected hundreds of millions (if not billions) in "vice" taxes, now wants redress for what it thinks was a bad deal?
Before you dismiss me as an undercover tobacco lobbyist, let me assure you I am not. In fact, I'm a former pack-plus-a-day nicotine junkie who had a tough time kicking the habit.
No, I don't care for the tobacco companies, and perhaps they should be held accountable for attempting to make their addictive carcinogen even more addictive. But making a bunch of attorneys rich and tobacco stockholders poorer isn't going to solve anything. It will just make it more expensive.
If the trial attorneys want to claim the high moral ground, they should put their money and connections to work to outlaw tobacco in this country, and they might if they could figure out a way to get rich doing it. But it appears this circus is coming to town anyway, so I'll just try to enjoy the clowns.
Steve Jones
Tallahassee
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Flagler College
As the president of a private liberal arts college in the state of Florida, I appreciated your article "College On A Budget" [August 1996]. President Bill Proctor has not only been doing an outstanding job at Flagler for over two decades, but he is an inspiration to other college presidents. It is refreshing in a day of trendy educational fashions and gimmicks, along with lots of financial nonsense in the education world, to find a college being directed by an administrator who has an aversion to excess.
George D. Youstra
President
Clearwater Christian College, Clearwater
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Eminent Domain
Your article on the attorney's fee awarded in the Topsail Hill case [Legal Trends, "This Land Is My Land," October 1996] captured the flavor and succinctly presented the whole subject matter in focus and without bias.
Toby Prince Brigham
Brigham Moore Gaylord Schuster Merlin & Tobin
Miami
