INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The County Commission Tuesday approved a jobs grant of up to $137,000 for Float-On Corporation, a manufacturing business operated by former state representative Ralph Poppell and his son, Tim Poppell.
Ralph Poppell, 72, represented District 29, which encompasses most of Indian River County from 2002 until 2010 when he was termed out. He founded Float-On in 1985.
The company, located at 98th Avenue and State Road 60, just west of Interstate 95, makes aluminum boat trailers and boat lifts. It currently has 14 employees according to back-up material for the commission meeting, and plans to add 45 positions over the next three years to produce a new product line Poppell has so far kept secret.
“I have called Ralph and asked him if he can tell me anything about the new product,” said Commissioner Tim Zorc, adding that Poppell declined to provide additional information at the time but has promised to reveal his plans in early 2014.
Poppell initially requested that the name of his company be kept confidential during the grant application process, but it was revealed at a November Economic Development Council meeting.
By state law, companies can request and receive anonymity during such job incentive processes.
In what may have been his last official appearance before the commission, outgoing Community Development Director Bob Keating outlined the staff-recommended jobs grant proposal.
According to his presentation, “an applicant must create at least five new jobs, and those jobs must pay wages equal to or greater than the 75 percent of the county’s average annual wage of $34,119 to be eligible for the Local Job Grant Program. Presently, 75 percent of the annual average wage is $25,589 and all 45 proposed Float-On jobs pay that much or more.”
Float-On will receive $3,000 for each of 44 new jobs created and kept in place for at least three years and $5,000 for one higher-paying job.
The jobs will come online in three phases, with 30 new positions added by Oct. 10, 2014; 10 more added by Oct. 1, 2015; and an additional five jobs filled by Oct. 1, 2016.
“County job grants are given on a pay for performance basis,” said Keating. “That makes them better than many other economic development grants.”
Float-On will receive money allotted for each job in three phases, with the first payment due after the job has been in place for year and the final payment handed over when a new employee has been on the job for three years.
If all goes as planned, Float-On will receive $30,666 in fiscal year 2015-16; $40,666 in fiscal 2016-17; and $45,666 in fiscal 2017-18, with smaller amounts paid during the next two years for a total payout of $137,000 by the end of fiscal 2019-20.
Poppell plans to expand his manufacturing facility on 98th Avenue to accommodate the mysterious new product line and Commissioner Wesley Davis pointed out that the company will be eligible for tax abatement connected to the expansion, in addition to the jobs grant.