WAKULLA COUNTY, FL — Wakulla County has approved several key components of Project Safety, a manufacturing facility valued at more than $20 million. It's set to be built in Opportunity Park.
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The county approved a public-private partnership agreement with Point Blank Enterprises, a lease agreement for the facility, a revolving line of credit of $10 million for the project, and a construction bid for All State Construction.
The facility is expected to bring more than 300 new jobs to the county.
Many neighbors attended the meeting and shared concerns about how the county would pay for the facility. One neighbor raised questions about rising cost estimates.
"The initial cost estimate was just over $21 million in the December 2024 grant proposals and now it shows the latest estimate is 25 so that's a little over 19% increase in just every a year. So there's no hard costs that I could find in the documents presented, and we're about to take all this loan. So it cost seems to be a moving target without a cap at this point, which is concerning," Carrie Hughes said.
One of the biggest concerns involved the $10 million line of credit and how it would affect taxpayers.
County Commissioner Ralph Thomas said a majority of the money will come from grants and Triumph Gulf funds from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.
Thomas said the loan is intended to get construction started and will be paid off through grants and the agreement with Point Blank Enterprises.
"A few years ago we got about $120 million in state grants. Well, that money has to be funded up front, so our board approved up to $100 million loan. Now we never borrowed the entire 100 million, but we would borrow 30 million, and then we would complete a project with that 30 million we get reimbursed from the state. So this is the exact same thing. We're going to borrow this $10 million in case we need it. So we can front any cost, submit receipts to the state, to BP, to get reimbursed, " Thomas said.
The county said if Florida Job Growth Grant Fund requirements are not met, the county could lose around $3.5 million. Officials say they have been meeting with Florida Commerce to prevent that from happening.
While no official construction start date has been set, commissioners hope to break ground later this year.
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Point Blank Enterprises
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