Chandler is going to spend millions on eBay, but taxpayers are buying jobs, not trinkets.
The City Council approved a development agreement Thursday that gives the national auction company up to $4,996,500 if it creates 3,000 PayPal jobs. The money won't change hands until the jobs materialize, and eBay must promise to keep them at least five years.
The San Jose-based auction firm is expanding its PayPal division and moving into a previously vacant four-story Chandler Echelon office building at 1240 S. Price Road near Loop 202. PayPal was created as a secure way to transfer funds on the Internet using credit cards or bank accounts.
The municipal money will reimburse eBay for development, permit and utility fees and for job-training programs. Amounts are on a sliding scale that offers $1,000 per position up to 800, $1,500 per position for 800 to 1,200 jobs and $2,000 per position for 1,201 to 3,000 jobs.
Assistant City Manager Pat McDermott said this payout is different from government incentives that give promising developments money upfront with hopes that their projects will bring jobs or tax revenues later.
"This is a performance-based development agreement that makes financial sense for the city," he said, adding these types of incentives are becoming more widely used and are not new to Chandler.
Councilman Matt Orlando said he is encouraged by the new jobs eBay is bringing to Chandler. Cities have been unfairly criticized for offering cash incentives, and he believes the eBay deal shows how they can be great community investments.
PayPal spokeswoman Sara Parker said the company has already hired about 350, and operations have started on the Chandler building's first and second floors.
"We are planning a grand opening early next year and expect to have 2,000 new hires by the end of 2011," she said.
She would not disclose salaries but said positions include management, technical, training and customer-service jobs. Postings on job Web sites list some salaries in the $30,000 to $40,000 range and say that interviews are taking place every Wednesday this month.
Known internationally as a secure way of paying for goods and services on the Internet, PayPal is growing "to better serve our customers," Parker said.
The push to bring PayPal to Chandler was a regional economic-development effort that included the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
"This further strengthens our reputation in technology, and it shows we can continue to bring industry from California to Arizona, which is an important market for us," GPEC President Barry Broome said.
Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2010/12/11/20101211chandler-ebay-development-taxpayer1211.html#ixzz17rVpJLHv
