A.G. Gancarski
Enterprise Florida is the official economic development organization for the state of Florida. Jobs in the Sunshine State, by most measures, are booming. Florida is, as they say, open for business.
However, there is a caveat, which was revealed Wednesday morning during the Enterprise Florida Board Legislative Policy Meeting. And it is a significant caveat.
The closing fund is drastically underfunded.
Enterprise Florida asked the Legislature for $85 million and got $43 million, which sounds like a lot of money.
However, there is another caveat.
With about $30 million of obligations from previous years considered, Enterprise Florida has about $9 million to work with.
That’s enough money to get them through a few weeks of closing deals. If they were to be able to close every deal that is currently live, they would need upward of $40 million to do so.
Other states don’t have this problem. Texas, a state with comparable population, has $100 million to work with in its closing fund. Arkansas, a state with fewer than 3 million people, has $50 million in closing funds.
Site selectors for corporations are taking notice. One recently said, “I hear you guys are out of money. Is Florida waffling on its commitment to attract jobs?”
The worry in the board room boiled down to the present tense: What happens when other states talk?
It is easy to imagine a scenario where Arkansas, with plenty of land and low taxes, makes a play that even though Florida says it’s open for business the numbers say otherwise.
The word of mouth would dig the branding hole very deep, creating lasting damage.
Even though there are new deals every week, the worry in the room seemed to be that a short-term shortfall could create long term issues.
Enterprise Florida CEO Bill Johnson said it plainly: “The lack of money in the closing fund sends the wrong message.”
CEOs crave predictability and stability. And right now, he said, “our competitors are smiling,” saying that “Florida is out of gas.”
To make the model work, Johnson contends that an ongoing commitment to economic development is necessary.
Chairman Fred Leonhardt added that they are dealing with a “very sophisticated competitive reality” in which other states are “trying to steal our companies” with “resources on the table.”
When jobs move, educated talent moves also. College graduates depart for greener pastures.
At stake: transformational deals. Gov. Rick Scott, who addresses the group on Thursday along with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, is on board.
“The governor is very committed to this organization,” said Mike Grissom, and is “adamant about seeing it funded.”
There is support among House leadership also.
While the situation is not completely dire, as Enterprise Florida has $85 milion in escrow, it’s dire enough.
As Mark Wilson, president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said, decades of work have gone into fighting for “targeted jobs.”
Could all of that effort be undone by a funding shortfall?
In the short term, board members will have their talking points for elevator pitches to legislators and others who can remedy the current situation.
They will make their appeals on a regional basis.
They have committed allies in the legislative and the executive branch both.
But will they run out of time before they get the help they need?
