‘Snake Eyes’ hopes to roll 500 jobs to Santa Rosa County

TEAM Santa Rosa Economic Development Council has rolled the dice.

It came up with Snake Eyes...Project Snake Eyes, that is.

Moved to the Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners' regularly scheduled meeting's agenda today was a request by TEAM Santa Rosa for a resolution from the board, designating the as-yet-unnamed global information-technology company as a qualified target industry to receive the special tax incentives that such a designation allows.

The venture has been tabbed Project Snake Eyes.

The best bottom-line news known at this time is that it could bring as many as 500 jobs to Santa Rosa County.

The business is considering establishing its site at the Santa Rosa Industrial Park in East Milton.

Shannon Ogletree, TEAM Santa Rosa associate director, requested the resolution from the commissioners at their committees report meeting on March 22.

"Any time we can do something like this, it's great for the county," said Lane Lynchard, commission vice chairman.

The IT company is requesting a waiver from one key requirement for it to become a "qualified target industry": that the company will pay more than the average local wage, currently $14.62 per hour.

According to the "qualified target industry" incentives, new industries building on non-county-owned property and expanding industries could be paid $200 to $500 per employee for each job that pays 115-150 percent above the county's average wage rate. The total payout to industries would be over a five-year period.

The resolution would exempt the "Project Snake Eyes" IT company from the wages stipulation.

TEAM Santa Rosa's incentives target five key industries: renewable energy, human performance, information technology, logistics, and aerospace and defense.