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day care facilities; equipment purchases; and other expenses approved by the Board of County Commissioners. A business that is awarded a jobs grant will receive the funds over a three year period. In the first year, the business would receive 50% of the total grant, and then 25% for each of the final two years. Any business that receives a jobs grant must sign a legally binding agreement with Indian River County and must post a letter of credit or other surety. Conditions in the agreement will require the business to perform according to the criteria used to approve the jobs grant application (number of jobs created, average salary levels, % of county residents hired, etc.). Another condition of the agreement shall require that the business not close or relocate out of the county for at least ten years from the time of receiving the jobs grant unless the business pays back the grant funds which it has received Local jobs grants awarded to businesses will be financed from the general fund continency account. In any given fiscal year, the maximum amount that may be dispersed through the local jobs grant program is $100,000. Economic Development onn it At its October 10, 2000 meeting, the Economic Development Council (EDC) voted in favor of revising the county's local jobs grant program. A description of the revised program is presented in attachment one of this staff report. ANALYSIS Minimum Job rreatien Threshold Requirements Since the Board of County Commissioners established the local jobs grant program, only one application has been received by the county. One of the reasons for the low participation in this program may be due to the minimum threshold level of 20 new jobs. Due to Indian River County's small labor force, many businesses that do locate in Indian River County are small businesses. Based on 1998 information from the Florida Office of Labor Market Statistics, the average employment size for a manufacturing firm in Indian River County is 23 employees. That average is based on 114 manufacturing firms located in Indian River County and 2,629 employees working for those firms. Since 1996, St. Lucie County has lowered its minimum job creation threshold to five jobs for its jobs grant Program- In lowering the minimum threshold, St. Lucie County envisioned that the five job threshold may encourage many of its small existing businesses to expand their operations. In the Past two years, St Lucie County has approved 12 jobs grant applications that resulted in the creation of 3,600 jobs. Of those 3,600 new jobs, the QVC call center represents 1,600. Call centers are not eligible for Indian River County's program. OCTOBER 24, 2000 -97- BK 1 15 PG 668