$684,000 for 114 Jobs? City of Orlando Says It's Worth It


$684,000 will be paid by the City of Orlando and the State of Florida to employees of digital animation & game development studio Arrow Sky Media so they can have health insurance, performance bonuses and paid vacations if the company chooses to move to Orlando. For three years. After three years the company can move to another state.

The City of Orlando will be approving their portion of the payment at the October 10th City Council meeting.

Arrow Sky Media is a Nashville based multi-media digital animation production and game development studio that produces Emmy award winning environmental educational television series and game apps for children ages 2 to 14.

The company is considering an expansion and have notified they're interested in 3 states and their offers. The one with the best offer wins:
  1. Nashville, Tennessee
  2. Atlanta, Georgia 
  3. Orlando, Florida
What does the winning City get?
  1. 114 new-to-Florida jobs by December 31, 2019, paying an annual average wage of $67,333, which is at least 150% of the Orange County annual wage. 
  2. A likelihood of continued job growth and investment well beyond this time frame
  3. Arrow Sky Media’s total capital investment is estimated to be $2,930,000.
What has to be done: pay $684,000 to the company as part of what's called the Qualified Target Industry (QTI) program incentive:
  1. State pays 80% QTI match. That will include $12,000 to the company per employee per year which includes health insurance, performance bonuses and paid vacations. That's the average value of benefits that will be available to employees. 
  2. City of Orlando pays 20% QTI match. That will be up to $1200 per job created, paying an average annual wage of $67,333. That's a total of $136,800 over a six-year period: 
  • 2017/2018 $7,200
  • 2018/2019 $16,800
  • 2019/2020 $34,200 
  • 2020/2021 $34,200
  • 2021/2022 $27,000
  • 2022/2023 $17,400 
Florida's Qualified Target Industry Program includes strict accountability requirements of the applicant. The pledge of funds pursuant to this resolution shall be contingent upon Arrow Sky Media being qualified by the State of Florida as a QTI Program participant, meeting its job and wage obligations under the program and future budget appropriations by the Orlando City Council.