The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to pay up to $1.05 million in incentives to Inmar Inc., which is considering a major corporate expansion here.
Inmar said Feb. 2 that it is considering a $62 million infrastructure expansion that would create 212 high-paying jobs and retain 761 jobs.
Company officials, including David Mounts, Inmar's chief executive, sat in the audience and watched as the commissioners approved the package.
Jill Atherton, an economic-development official with the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, called the company "a tremendous success story" during a public hearing on the package. No one spoke in opposition.
The Winston-Salem City Council will conduct a public hearing on Inmar's request for up to $1.75 million in incentives at 7 p.m. Feb. 20. In its legal notice, the council said the incentive money would go to "help offset land acquisition, site preparation, infrastructure and facility construction costs."
The package is the second largest for a local company in the 22 years economic incentives have been given. The largest was the $5 million for Wachovia Corp. to assist with the construction of the Wachovia Center in 1994.
Larger packages have been provided to companies moving into the area from elsewhere, such as Caterpillar Inc., which is eligible for $28.5 million in local incentives.
According to the agenda for the council's finance committee, which met Monday, the average annual starting salary for the new jobs would be $72,783. The average wage for the jobs that would be retained is $69,957.
The deal would come with a "clawback" provision that would require Inmar to pay back to the city all incentives if the yearly goals are not met within the first five years. After that the clawback drops to 50 percent in the sixth year and down to 10 percent in the 10th year.
Founded in 1980 as a coupon company, Inmar has grown substantially into a technology company, connecting its customers through its consulting services, software services and various operations.
Mounts said that the company "had our highest sales booking (ever) last year. We have a very strong pipeline of new sales. The potential is 2012 could be better than 2011, if we execute."
According to a legal filing by the county, Inmar said it would commit to buying at least $24.5 million in new equipment and spending at least $37.5 million on other capital investments.
It is considering sites outside the state for the expansion.
"Inmar's site assessment for its Winston-Salem headquarters is ongoing," said Sharon Joyner-Payne, the company's vice president of communications. "We continue to evaluate location alternatives in an effort to optimize our ability to support our growing business operations.
"We anticipate an announcement of our assessment in the near future."
Typically, to qualify for state incentives as an existing North Carolina business, a company must be considering moving its headquarters out of state. A grant from the One North Carolina Fund typically requires a local match, whereas the Job Development Investment Grant involves a larger, more complicated incentive deal.
Inmar wants to expand its headquarters by moving it to an undisclosed building where it would operate on a lease of at least 10 years. It is currently based at 2601 Pilgrim Court.
Inmar, which has 4,500 employees in North America, has started running out of headquarters space.
The company said it struggled recently to add 120 local employees, citing a lack of qualified candidates in the information technology, accounting, customer service and operations areas.
Three weeks ago, the company moved 100 of those employees to a new site at 3334 Healy Drive. By the end of February, 200 people will be at the Healy site.
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