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methodology that is consistent with the existing program and yields similar award amounts calculated under the current methodology. ANALYSIS The current methodology of shifting and re -shifting employees and their wages over time can be difficult to track and explain to companies. While County staff makes decisions to ensure that each company is properly awarded for each new job, the current methodology requires staff to make many decisions to "piece together" time served by employees and to track every individual position over time. As a result, staff time involved in administering the program can become extensive. For those reasons, a simpler methodology of verifying the number of new jobs and using average wages is proposed to verify local jobs grant wage compliance and number of full time jobs to calculate local jobs grant payments. The proposed average wage method (detailed in Attachment 2) focuses on identifying the average wage paid to all existing and new employees that live in the Indian River County area (excluding CEOs and owners) and calculating local jobs grant payments based on where a company's overall adjusted average wage falls within the County's existing local jobs grant payment tier categories ($3,000, $5,000, or $7,000). Under the new methodology, the amount of a job grant payment will be based on the number of net new eligible employees for the time phase being tracked and the company -wide average wage level adjusted by excluding wages for the CEOs and owners. All other aspects of the jobs grant program will remain unchanged, including the methodology for calculating and establishing a maximum total payment cap (payment cap dollar amount would remain the same). The proposed average wage methodology has been tested by County staff using employment data from four companies that received local jobs grant payments from the County in the past. As shown in the table on the next page, under the proposed methodology, the total local jobs grant payments could increase between five percent (5%) and eighteen percent (18%), with an average increase of eleven percent (11%). The increase is mainly due to the fact that the new methodology recognizes wages paid for full time jobs that do not run for an entire year. While the computations show a potential increase, in actuality that increased amount would not be paid out in total if the payment cap threshold established at the time of grant approval were reached. The local jobs grant payment cap is based on information supplied on the applicant's application, including the number of proposed jobs and the proposed wages for each of those jobs. The payment cap establishes the upper limit of what the County will pay. Based on the tests conducted, staff recommends using the new methodology for calculation of jobs grant payments. Use of the new methodology will provide for simplifying the payment calculations while providing an economic development incentive consistent with the number of new full time jobs created and non-CEO/owner wages paid. P156