The Escambia County Commission and City of Pensacola are now on the same page of the hymnal, in funding the attempt to bring an aircraft maintenance company to Pensacola International Airport.
“Project Stallion” was the code name for the talks with ST Aerospace, which operates a facility in Mobile that employs about 1,500 people. Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward announced in December that he had signed a Memorandum of Understanding – or MOU -- with ST Aerospace, capping two years of negotiations.
Escambia County Financial Director Amy Lovoy presented the figures to the County Commission on Thursday, showing a total project cost $37.3 million – to be paid by federal, state, local and private funds.
For now, there’s an eight million dollar funding gap. The county has 8.8 million in funding reserves, from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). That, says Lovoy, is prompting three questions that the commissioners must answer.
“Does the county wish to participate, do they want to participate at this level, and is the board willing to commit LOST reserves to this purpose,” said Lovoy.
Escambia County would pay $4.8 million, and loan Pensacola $3.2 million. The city would use one of its revenue streams for collateral, to be determined in an interlocal agreement. The loan would be repaid by the end of 2019.
Mayor Hayward’s MOU announcement took the Commission by surprise and received some criticism from Commissioner Gene Valentino. But Thursday he voiced his support for the project to move forward under the given terms.
“I think this is a sound deal,” said Valentino. “And it sends the right message to the industry which is the greater concern for, I’m sure, the city and the county that we look the part and act the part if we’re serious about bringing more of it in.”
ST Aerospace is also expected to enter into an agreement with Enterprise Florida – the state’s economic development group.
City and county staff are expected to finish work on the agreement in the next couple of weeks. If all goes as planned, the City Council will vote on February 26, with the County Commission voting on March 6.