Marina Armendariz
BUDA — The Recruiting and Investing in Skilled Employment (RISE) program, which provides salary-based cash incentives to local companies to create high-paying jobs, was recently implemented by the Buda Economic Development Corporation (EDC).
According to Jennifer Storm, the chief executive officer of the EDC, the corporation's job is to create economic prosperity by supporting existing businesses and recruiting new ones to Buda. With the development of the RISE program, the EDC hopes to fill gaps in its incentive programs, while further diversifying its economy.
“I was trying to get us to think about putting out a program to say what we wanted, instead of just hoping the right businesses would show up. I wanted us to think through saying ‘What is our ideal business and what do we actually want and why don't we incentivize what we want’ instead of just waiting and hoping the right person applied and so, that’s how Brian kind of started this and put together this program,” said Storm.
The RISE program is a three-year program designed to create 10-25 full-time jobs with a salary of $70,000 or higher in each company that joins. The program targets the industries of advanced manufacturing, knowledge-intensive business services and arts and entertainment. The cash incentives for the companies follow a structured tier system with different bonuses based on salaries, residence and retention.
“We have different incentives. We have small incentives that Jackie Martinez manages and then, we have a large incentive,” said Brian Dyer, assistant director of development and recruitment. “We don’t have anything in policy yet that sort of hits these in between.”
Under the RISE program, for an employee earning $70,000-$89,000, the company would receive $1,500 per position filled. For an employee earning $90,000 or more, the company would receive $2,500 per position filled. If the employee is a Buda resident, then the company receives $2,500 and $5,000 per position under the same salary parameters. Companies get paid retention bonuses of $2,000 per position after two years and $3,000 per position after three years, as well.
“It’s trying to attract those types of employers here, that are really more of that skilled labor,” said Dyer. “We have a super highly educated skilled labor force that lives here … A lot of them are traveling out of the community to go work elsewhere.”
A major requirement of the RISE program is to operate in Buda by utilizing existing facilities or commercial spaces. By having companies move to Buda, the EDC is able to utilize space that would otherwise be unused, while also stimulating local job growth for community members. According to the EDC, they hope to incentivize anywhere between 25 and 75 new jobs in the area.
“The space is already here,” said Storm. “This program aims to help fill those spaces, but with high-quality jobs.”
For more information on the EDC and its programs, visit www.budaedc.com.
