Business & Tech

Small Business Job Creation Program Kicks Off March 21

Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. The program reimburses partial wages for three months, up to $3,900, for some 200 jobs created for new employees living in Hillsborough County. Cost to taxpayers: $500,000.

At Brandon Patch we listed the Small Business Job Creation Program as one of the you might want to know about the March 16 meeting of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners.

The need to know deepens as County Commissioners approved the wage-reimbursement incentive program for small business owners, which kicks off March 21 on a first-come, first-served basis.

To gauge your eligibility and interest, consider this:

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  1. The program is for Hillsborough County businesses with 10 or fewer employees.
  2. The program supports the creation of “sustainable new jobs” by reimbursing for those jobs 50 percent of the wages and/or salary costs incurred for three months, up to $3,900 for each new job, subject to program criteria and restrictions.
  3. It’s estimated that the program, with an allocation of $500,000, would provide enough incentive to create some 200 jobs.

Commissioner Sandra Murman both proposed and, in a statement following the March 16 meeting, promotes the program. The county “needs to grow our economic base,” she noted, and necessary are “opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs” to do just that.

How well that opportunity pans out with this initiative depends in part on the acceptance of qualifications necessary to receive the reimbursement.

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Qualifications and rules will be printed on applications. Among other things:

  • Small business owners have to attend a minimum of four hours of business workshops and/or counseling sessions.
  • Jobs created must be full time and last at least the required three-month employment period.
  • New employees must be residents of Hillsborough County.
  • Businesses must be located in Hillsborough County.
  • Wage reimbursement is good for up to three jobs created per employer.

Next steps for interested business owners is to download on March 21 an application, with additional information, from the Hillsborough County Small, Minority Business Development section of the Economic Development Department.

Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until program funds run out.

For information, call: 813-914-4028.


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