Jobs Killer

Beall's, Inc. President and CEO Steve Knopik is not one to back away from a challenge. As a prep football star for Sarasota's Cardinal Mooney Cougars he played on its 1972 Class A state championship football team.

But now Knopik may be facing his biggest challenge yet when the 530-store Bradenton-based retail company he leads takes on higher state unemployment compensation (UC) tax rates on top of an already reeling retail landscape.

The minimum state UC tax rate changes Jan. 1 when it swells from $8.40 annually per employee to $100.30 — a 12-fold increase that will cost a company such as Beall's hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.