Apple Gets $8.6M Incentive to Open Campus in Austin, Texas

Apple, the world’s most valuable company, won an $8.6 million incentive from the city of Austin, Texas, to build a new campus there, according to reports.

“The City Council approved unanimously, 6-0, to the ordinance creating an economic development program with Apple, Inc. and authorizing the negotiation and execution of an economic development agreement with Apple, Inc.,” reported KXAN.

Apple has a facility in northwest Austin with 3,100 employees and wants to build another facility for an additional 3,600 workers. It was also considering Phoenix for a new campus though some reports said “Phoenix was never really in the running.”

Critics argue that Apple was not serious about settling in Phoenix and did not need a financial incentive to expand in Austin.

If Apple selects the Austin site it would receive from the state “$21 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund,” plus an additional $6 million from Travis County in real estate abatements, and “the City of Austin would give $8.6 million in tax abatements,” according to KXAN.

But the $21 million TEF would not come into play without Austin’s incentive package, according to Statesman.com.

Local station KVUE reported: "We have thousands of people who are unemployed or underemployed who are looking for jobs, or better jobs than they've got right now, to make a living wage," explained council member Bill Spelman. "I think we've got an obligation to make that available to them."