With code names like Project Turtle and Project Empire, nearly a dozen companies negotiated economic development deals with the city of Jacksonville in 2018 without divulging their identities to the public.
Our Jacksonville Daily Record partner reports the deals included millions of dollars in taxpayer financial incentives negotiated outside of public view and voted on by City Council without an identified name.
Since January, economic development packages for 10 companies that were unidentified in legislation included more than $13.2 million in city and state-backed financial incentives.
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Those companies proposed adding 1,090 jobs over the next five years and investing more than $200 million in private capital into new or existing facilities.
Eight of those agreements have been executed.
Incentives usually are paid out over several years and only after the company reaches agreed-upon hiring goals or investments at their facilities.
Under state law, companies can protect what they consider sensitive and identifiable information during negotiations.
The prospects require government officials to sign nondisclosure agreements that protect their identities for up to a year after an agreement is executed.
City-appointed economic development officials can vet the deals behind closed doors and City Council members can vote on them without divulging the name to the public.
Economic development officials can meet individually with council members before the votes to explain the deal and the prospect.
The city maintains it doesn’t negotiate deals unless they include a positive return on investment, a figure calculated through a formula.
Most of the information provided to the public includes the number of jobs and wages or the amount of private capital the companies plan to invest. Sometimes the size and general location of the project is included.
Nonspecific information sometimes is provided through public documents, drafts of the development agreements or through legislation.
For example, the city described Project Blaze as an “eco-friendly Midwest-based hair-care product maker.”
Project Empire was described as a “national distributor of an assortment of household goods.”
Companies and the city sometimes announce the names after council approves the incentives. The name also can be found in the completed economic development agreement signed by the city and a company representative.
