Commissioner Murman quoted in this follow up article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal on NewSouth Windows:
NewSouth Window deal makes the case for tax incentives
Dec 8, 2016, 12:22pm EST
Reporter
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Hillsborough County is giving a half off discount to a Tampa company on its property tax bill for the next seven years. NewSouth Windows will save about $50,000 a year on a tax incentive from the county for expanding its business.
The deal is, NewSouth gets a total $350,000 tax break and in return must create at least 30 new jobs as part of a $17 million capital expansion.
The company will spend $15 million on a new building and $2 million on new equipment, according to CEO Dan Ochstein. The company is building a 240,000 square-foot facility on Williams road near the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Interstate-75.
“We’ve grown into four different locations around Tampa and need to consolidate,” Ochstein said.
Company leaders considered locations from Orlando to Pinellas. The ultimate decision on the Williams site wasn’t made entirely on the basis of earning a tax subsidy, but Ochstein said it did help seal the deal.
“We would have had to really think hard about it,” Ochstein said.
Such subsidies for businesses to open or expand are sometimes controversial as critics cry foul over what they dub corporate welfare. But this deal was different. Not a single person spoke against it during public comment at the meeting Wednesday where it was scheduled for approval.
Commissioners also had nothing to say. All, that is, except for Sandra Murman who had praise for the initiative.
“With construction booming here and all the growth that we’re going to be experiencing, it really shows that more and more manufacturers are seeing the value in expanding,” Murman said.
The incentive passed unanimously.
That’s unlike past initiatives like a $6 million road improvement subsidy for Bass Pro Shops. The obvious difference is the dollar figure – $350,000 compared to $6 million. But this deal also came with guarantees.
In return for the halved property taxes, NewSouth must create at least 30 jobs. It plans to meet that and potentially even exceed that with estimates putting total job growth at 40 employees.
Those jobs would be mostly high paying professional sector positions and some manufacturing. The incentive also guarantees the retention of some 100 jobs already in Hillsborough County.
NewSouth is a window manufacturing company serving 76 cities in Florida including Tampa. Statewide it currently employs roughly 150 people.
