Firms protest $1M economic development grant

Several Sarasota area building industry organizations and business owners are fighting back against an economic development effort to lure a national roofing company to town using public subsidies.

The company in question is part of a proposal, under the codename Project Mulligan, scheduled to go before the Sarasota County Commission Tuesday May 24. An agenda item for the project was pulled before a meeting held May 10. The company, not named in public documents, would be eligible for a total tax refund of $1.08 million. About 20% of that, $216,000, would come from the county, while the rest would come from the state's Qualified Targeted Industry Tax Refund.

The QTI tax refund incentive is available for “companies that create high wage jobs in targeted high value-added industries,” according to a memo from the Sarasota County Director of Business and Economic Development Jeff Maultsby. The company has committed to creating 180 new full-time jobs at an average annual wage of at least $58,757, the memo adds.