Business Assistance and
Job Creation

The EDC provides  business assistance in the areas of site and building location, identification and analysis, coordination of employee training for new and incumbent workers, retention assistance for employers and employees, tax credit and other financial assistance benefits for qualifying businesses, and facilitation of networking opportunities with compatible business entities.  All of this in the quest to create jobs!

 Note from the EDC: 
        In order to help create jobs, the March 2004 election ballot provided Okaloosa County the opportunity to reinstate economic development incentives on temporary property tax exemptions for local businesses that are expanding and to new businesses that will open in the county.  This growth will require additional employees; it is the creation of jobs!

EDC Coordinated Business Assistance Programs

The EDC is responsible for coordinating the state business incentive programs through Enterprise Florida, Inc., the State’s legislatively designated marketing organization, and the Governor’s Office of Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development (OTTED).

 Economic Development Transportation Fund Grant (EDTF)
The EDTF provides for the construction or improvement of transportation infrastructures such as roads, taxiways or traffic signals.  The local government body, with the assistance of the EDC, applies on behalf of a company that is considering an expansion or location of facilities and that has an existing or anticipated transportation problem.

     Note:  Okaloosa County has been one of the most successful counties in Florida to benefit from the EDTF Grant Program.  In the past few years, local companies, on behalf of Okaloosa County and the EDC, have received over $12,000,000 in EDTF grants.

Quick Response Training Program
Provides rapid, effective start-up training tailored to meet a company’s specific training needs.  The average Quick Response Grant per trainee is $650.

Incumbent Worker Training Grant
Provides funding to upgrade the skills for existing employees.  Local qualifying companies have benefited from this training program that allows them to increase the skills of employees who are already familiar with the company’s products, services and growing needs.

• FY 2005:  $69,260

• FY 2004:  $145,600

Collaboration With Educational and Training Institutions To Ensure a Highly Skilled and Diversified Workforce

The rapidly advancing technology and a highly competitive labor market are demanding a more technically skilled workforce in Okaloosa County.  The EDC maintains a close relationship with the multi-leveled educational institutions in Okaloosa to accomplish the goal of providing quality education and training needed to maintain a competitive edge for our growing business and industry base. 

Retain, Expand and Diversify the Existing Economic Base

Fiscal Year 2006
In FY06, the Okaloosa County labor force grew to 99,502 workers, an increase of 2,705 new workers over the previous year.  The EDC contributed to the employment of this growing labor force by facilitating the creation of 1,851 new jobs.  This includes 474 jobs generated by first time business investors into our local economy.  The current Okaloosa unemployment rate is 2.3% (NSA), one of the State’s consistently lowest maintained rates and .5% lower then the unemployment rate in Okaloosa County one year ago.

The companies assisted by the EDC, created as a whole, the highest average wage in the county and in the entire Northwest Florida Region.  These technologically based firms, many of which are defense contractors, paid an average base wage of over $21.00 per hour, an amount that exceeds the Okaloosa County base wage by 175%.

Fiscal Year 2005

• Okaloosa's labor force: 98,397

• Increased: 2,458

The EDC contributed to the employment of this growing labor market by facilitating the creation of 1,943 jobs.  This figure includes 322 new jobs generated by first-time business investors. 

Fiscal Year 2004

• Okaloosa's labor force: 95,939

• Increased: 5,753

The EDC assisted in establishing investments while creating new jobs:

• Ft. Walton Beach/Cinco Bayou/Destin/Mary Esther/Shalimar
  415 new jobs created
• Crestview/Holt/Laurel Hill
  346 new jobs created
• Niceville/Valparaiso
  51 new jobs created

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