OKALOOSA County OKs tax break for Pharmaceutical Company with eyes on Crestview

Just another major step in bringing a major manufacturing plant to Okaloosa County’s Crestview Industrial Airpark. As noted before, with the FAMU’s new Pharmacy School opening in 2012, it only seems natural, you have a Phamaceutical Plant nearby with access to students of the Pharmacy School.

By KARI C. BARLOW
Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4438 kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com  
CRESTVIEW — County commissioners on Tuesday voted to offer a five-year property tax abatement to an Alabama pharmaceutical firm eyeing a move to Okaloosa County. The Alabaster-based Pharmacy South, which makes the respiratory drug albuterol, is considering buying land at Bob Sikes Airport to build its next manufacturing plant. The company is eligible to receive almost $800,000 in tax breaks from the state. Okaloosa County has agreed to pay $156,000 of that total, while the state would cover the remaining $624,000. Commissioners were unanimous in their support of the measure during the public hearing. “It gives us an advantage,” Commissioner Wayne Harris said. “This will create highskill, high-wage jobs.” One resident opposed the tax abatement, telling commissioners it works against the free market. “This board is saying it can choose winners and losers in business,” said Pete Blome of Niceville. “It is not the role of government to own businesses or grant favors.” Blome said the board would be wiser to “cut taxes for everyone” instead of offering one company a tax abatement. Others praised the tax abatement, saying it was an investment and would bring much-needed economic development to the county. Pharmacy South also is considering locations in Georgia, New Jersey and Alabama. It is eligible for the tax abatement under Florida’s Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund Program, which is designed to attract companies from the aviation, aerospace, defense, life sciences and information technology industries. Okaloosa voters approved the use of such tax breaks in a 2004 countywide referendum. Since then, the measure, which is available to new and existing companies, has been used four times. Pharmacy South would have to satisfy certain requirements, including building its $22 million manufacturing facility, before the tax abatement would begin. “They’ve got to put their money on the table and do their building before they get one dime from the county,” Commissioner Dave Parisot said during the meeting. If used, the tax abatement would be effective from 2014 to 2018. Commissioner Bill Roberts said landing the company would bring new industries to the county. “If we’re looking at clean diversification, that’s what we’re going to get with this project,” he said. Pharmacy South has proposed building a 45,000-square-foot plant that initially would generate an estimated 130 jobs with salaries averaging $43,800. Former Destin Mayor Craig Barker, whose company Cobalt Blue has led the recruiting effort, told commissioners Tuesday that the deal has the potential to make the area an “epicenter of pharmaceutical manufacturing.” Barker said Okaloosa County drew major interest when the company learned of the Florida A&M University pharmacy school planned for the Alatex building in downtown Crestview. FAMU would have the “opportunity to … conduct research and development for the company as they move through clinical trials to gain FDA approval,” Barker said. He said the facility Pharmacy South has proposed building would include a 6,000-square-foot research and development lab where FAMU doctoral students could work.