Back in 2013, Digital Risk and the city reached an agreement that had the consulting company expanding its Jacksonville presence and creating 300 jobs.
In return, the company would receive $300,000 from a Countywide Economic Development Fund, which was created by former Mayor Alvin Brown to assist non-Downtown related projects as sort of a deal “closing fund.”
City Council eagerly signed off. Yet, Brown never signed the contract, which ended up causing a problem when the company filed its first jobs report this month.
The lack of a signature meant the contract never made its way through the system and ultimately meant the $300,000 was never set aside. As a result, it ended up being spent on other economic development projects.
The 2013 deal has Digital Risk creating the positions by Dec. 31, 2017.
The Maitland-based company that offers mortgage risk, compliance and management services to the mortgage industry had created 73, according to the report, good for $73,000 from the city.
Yet with no money encumbered, Curry’s administration this week had to find the funds elsewhere. It did, by setting up legislation to transfer $300,000 from another economic development project — “Project Pinnacle” — that didn’t completely pan out.
The transfer was approved Monday by the Mayor’s Budget Review Commission.
Pinnacle was Fidelity Global Brokerage Group, which signed a deal with the city in 2006 to create 1,200 jobs for $3.6 million in city and state incentives. The city was obligated for $800,000 of that amount.
Legislation for the $300,000 transfer to fill the Digital Risk void should be filed for council in the coming weeks.
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