ST. LUCIE COUNTY — St. Lucie County officials have approved sweeping updates to the county’s economic incentive programs in an effort to standardize how businesses are rewarded for building and expanding in the area.
County leaders said the changes are designed to better align incentives with the economic impact projects bring to the community, including higher wages, larger job creation and greater private investment.
The county’s incentive programs include the job growth investment grant, impact fee mitigation and ad valorem tax exemptions.
Under the current system, developers can qualify for incentives by creating at least 10 jobs and offering wages equal to about 107% of the county’s average hourly wage, roughly $26 per hour.
Planning and Development Services Director Ben Balcer said county officials believed the existing standards no longer adequately distinguished between projects with modest benefits and those with broader economic value.
“That threshold established a baseline, but it doesn't strongly distinguish between projects that provide a modest economic benefit and those projects that provide for much higher wages, larger job creation, or greater capital investment,” Balcer said. “One of the central goals of these updates is to raise the wage expectations and better differentiate economic incentive levels based on the actual value that the project provides to the county.”
The revised system introduces a unified framework that applies across all county incentive programs.
“Under the proposed structure, the county would use one unified incentive framework,” Balcer said. “The scoring matrix that we've created would apply across all of the incentive programs and it serves as the primary tool for evaluating eligibility and also the incentive levels.”
Projects will now be evaluated using a point-based scoring system tied to economic impact. Developments must earn at least 30 points to qualify for incentives, with higher scores tied to greater benefits such as more jobs, higher wages and larger investments.
Projects can earn up to 105 points, along with an additional 40 bonus points for creating more than 500 jobs. Impact fee mitigation will require a minimum of 50 points because of the direct cost to the county.
Balcer said the level of incentive awarded will vary depending on a project’s score and projected economic return.
“For a job growth investment grant, the score determines the percentage of the eligible grant amount. For the ad valorem tax exemption, the score determines the maximum exemption percentage and the recommended duration. For the impact fee mitigation program, the score determines the maximum percentage of mitigation,” he said. “The intent is to create a link between the level of incentive and the measurable economic impact of the project.”
The updated policies also add stricter accountability measures for projects that fail to meet expectations.
“Under the new framework, there are clear performance-based payments enforcement mechanisms built into the resolutions,” Balcer said. “A minimum 70% performance threshold applies for prorated benefits. Below 70%, no payment or benefit is provided unless otherwise approved by the board. The board also has direct clawback and repayment authority across all of these programs and the repayment obligations survive termination of the agreement.”
Local economic development leaders supported the revisions, saying the changes place a greater emphasis on attracting stronger projects to the county.
“I think the overall end result here definitely achieves the directives that you set forward of elevating the quality of jobs and the quality of projects that the county seeks to incentivize,” said Wes McCurry, president of the St. Lucie Economic Development Council.
Commissioners also backed the changes during the meeting, with Commissioner James Clasby calling the revisions a significant improvement over the previous system.
“The clawback provisions alone should make taxpayers feel more comfortable about this and you know economic incentives was something that was passed by voters so I think this is the most responsible way to do it,” Clasby said.
The board ultimately approved the changes with one modification, raising the minimum economic performance threshold from 70% to 85%.
County officials said the incentive policies had not been substantially updated since the 1990s.