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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA <br />MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Jason E. Brown, County Administrator <br />THROUGH: Phillip J. Matson, AICP; Community Development Director <br />FROM: John Stoll; Chief, Long Range Planning <br />DATE: May 25, 2022 <br />RE: Consideration of Lemnature AquaFarms USA, Inc's Request for a Local Jobs <br />Grant <br />It is requested that the information herein presented be given formal consideration by the Board of <br />County Commissioners at its meeting of June 7, 2022. <br />DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS <br />As part of the County's initiatives to improve the local economic base, a package of economic <br />development incentives designed to attract targeted businesses to the county and to encourage <br />existing businesses to expand their operations within the county was established in 1996. Included <br />in that package of incentives was a local job grant program. That program, which was revised by the <br />Board of County Commissioners in October 2000, December 2006, and March 2009, provides a <br />financial incentive to businesses that create good paying, full-time jobs in Indian River County. <br />Lemnature AquaFarms USA, Inc has applied for a local job grant for its business which will utilize <br />aquaculture to produce plant -based food and beverages. As proposed, Lemnature AquaFarms USA, <br />Inc will bring a targeted business with approximately 46 new jobs to the county. <br />To be eligible for the County's Local Job Grant Program, an applicant must create at least 5 new <br />jobs, and those jobs must pay wages equal to or greater than 75% of the county's average annual <br />wage ($46,289 current average annual wage). Currently, seventy-five percent of the County's <br />average annual wage is $34,716.75. All of the proposed forty-six jobs meet the minimum wage <br />requirements for the job grant application. Based upon proposed wages and jobs, Lemnature <br />AquaFarms USA, Inc. is eligible to receive up to a $200,000 jobs grant. <br />KM <br />