Gov. Rick Scott is asking the Florida Legislature $85 million for incentives that Enterprise Florida can use to lure more jobs to Florida.
When it was brought up yesterday at the EFI board meeting that Michigan lawmakers are advancing a $300 million annual tax-incentive package, Scott said, “We do have to be in the game. Any significant corporate move, factory move, back office move, they use a site selector. If we’re not in the game, we’re not going to win.”
Earlier this year, the Florida House turned down Scott’s request for $250 million for economic incentives, a request that Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward endorsed. Our area has received tens of millions of dollars of incentives for the Navy Federal Credit Union and VT MAE.
Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who was budget chairman last session, voted down the fund, calling it “corporate welfare†because Enterprise Florida was “picking the winners by making deals for an elite few companies.â€
Chris Hart, the newly approved EFI president and CEO, will have to persuade Speaker Corcoran to fund the incentive program, something his predecessor, Bill Johnson, failed to do and ultimately cost him his job.
Hart told the News Service of Florida that his job is to establish “trust” between the House Speaker and Enterprise Florida, something he said may be a little easier as he believes they have common goals.
“What he’s doing, which I think — appropriately so — in his role, is he’s asking a lot of questions and interjecting a lot of his opinions, but we all do that,” Hart said of Corcoran. “He’s looking at having a prosperous Florida. We’re looking at a prosperous Florida. He wants to ensure that it’s for all Floridians.”