This latest Joby Aviation news is yet another sign that the eVTOL industry is already making an impact on local communities around the world.
According to santacruzsentinel.com, the city’s council has approved a motion at a recent meeting, to provide Joby with a forgivable loan of USD500,000 to help establish an employment centre and incentivise the company to remain in the city of Santa Cruz until 2038.
Provided by the local Economic Development Trust Fund, a forgivable loan is a type that allows borrowers to have the balance of their loan either partially or totally forgiven if they meet certain conditions. All Joby has to do is employ a number of local people at its HQ in the Harvey West area of Santa Cruz as well as its facilities in Marina and San Carlos.
Surely, this is a win-win for the eVTOL company?
Bonnie Lipscomb, Director of the Santa Cruz Economic Development, said at the meeting, “Joby is creating ridesharing networks, which is one of the things we are excited about in the city, particularly with Highway 17. The company also fits in with our community values of providing sustainable solutions to today’s challenges of congestion and climate change.”
The article explains, “The loan would be provided to Joby on a reimbursement basis based on an annual survey of its job generation and employee retention. The agreement is meant to incentivise the hiring of 250 new, full-time employees in the city in total, which includes positions for technicians, engineers, machinists and managers, among others.”
Lipscomb added, “That’s really the crux of what this agreement is about. It is all about the creation of local jobs in our community.”
The report points out this forgivable loan is taken from the Economic Development Trust Fund and does not impact the city’s general fund, where the loan “will be used for testing, manufacturing and safety equipment, including communications, safety, and other advanced specialised manufacturing equipment for the facility, such as CNC machines, lasers, and grinders,” explains the article.
Joby HQ at Santa Cruz (graphic image)
The terms of the employment incentive is for the money to be disbursed over no-more than five years and with instalment payments based on the annual employment survey. For each full-time employee that Joby hires, the city would loan the company USD2,000. However, Joby cannot claim more than 100 new employees in a year, which means that the maximum loan amount awarded for a year is capped at USD200,000.
The article continues, “After Joby provides the annual employment survey, and shows that it has eligible expenses, the loan is forgiven. If the aviation company sees a reduction in employment in the city for five years and not growth, or if it relocates its headquarters outside of the city before 2038, Joby will be obligated to reimburse the city for a percentage of loan funding on a prorated basis.”
George Kivork, Joby’s Head of State and Local Policy, remarked, “We have spent the last year making sure that the agreement and the private partnership that we enter here together would be for the public interest. We have placed a very long range timeline of us not going anywhere for the next 10 years. We are committed to Santa Cruz.”
The City Council approved the motion by a 6–1 vote.
For more information
https://www.facebook.com/CityofSantaCruz/?locale=en_GB
(News Source: https://www.santacruzsentinel.com)
