Governor Rick Scott made the announcement in Tallahassee today, joined by a TimeWarner official, with Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Al Higginbotham and Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation Chair Rhea Law standing right besides them.
At this time it's unknown where the actual site for the center will be located, other than it will be somewhere in Tampa, Temple Terrace, or some part of unincorporated Hillsborough County. TimeWarner says they considered 59 locations for the site, with the final decision coming down to Georgia, New York or Florida.
TimeWarner currently has 50 employees working in Tampa, and this sentence included in Sanders' story should not be overlooked: "The shared resource center will reduce jobs that have repeated functions throughout the company."
So maybe it's 450 jobs coming to the area?
Today's announcement rips the veil of secrecy that both the Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County local governments in recent weeks when they were asked to approve tax incentives for an unknown company promising 500 jobs. The final package includes $1.5 million in Qualified Target Industry funds — tax refunds for every new job created, including $1.2 million from the state and $300,000 from local community matches
In a joint statement sent out by the EDC, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, Higginbotham, and Temple Terrace Mayor Joe Affronti, the stakeholders prided themselves on working together for the common cause:
"We realized early on that we needed to collaborate in order to accommodate the company’s needs and timeline, so we each agreed to pursue approval of local incentives even though one or more of us will be eliminated and will therefore end up not having to participate in the incentives programs. The impact of TimeWarner’s decision on our local economy will be felt throughout our area and we will all benefit from the company’s decision. This is a banner day for our residents and workforce. We look forward to demonstrating our appreciation by collectively offering TW Business Services a warm welcome and helping them become rapidly established here.”
