County staff prepared a Powerpoint presentation on Project Stallion, the code name for ST Aerospace. Reviewing it I can better understand the concerns of the some of the county commissioners.
Escambia County has approximately $8.8 million in Local Option Sales Tax reserves. The city of Pensacola needs $8 million of those reserves to fully fund the “final gap financing” for Phase 1 of the project.
According to the Powerpoint, the city has no money in the deal:
Florida Department of Transportation: $11.6 million
State Industry Recruitment Retention & Expansion Fund grant: $7 million
Federal Airport Improvement Program: $3.5 million
ST Aerospace will contribute $5-$7.5 million
Of the county’s funding, $3.2 million is a loan that will be repaid. The other $4.8 million is a contribution tied to certain guarantees.
See Project Stallion PowerPoint (Final).
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Note: While the city of Pensacola may be slow in answering public record requests, Escambia County has no such problems. Over the weekend, I requested the Powerpoint presentation. Even though it was a weekend request, I got a confirmation directly from Kathleen Dough-Castro, Public Information Manager. She sent the PowerPoint yesterday afternoon.
