Comcastβs new call center could get up to $180,000 in city tax incentives for creating high-paying manager jobs.
Philadelphia-based Comcast announced last month that it will bring more than 1,000 jobs to Tucson during the next four years.
With the exception of about 40 managers, the jobs will pay an average of about $35,000 a year β the Census Bureau lists median earnings in the city of Tucson at $25,596.
The management positions will pay in the $55,000- to $65,000-a-year range.
The Tucson City Council will discuss Comcastβs application for the Primary Jobs Incentive program during a study session Tuesday.
The goal of the 4-year-old Primary Jobs Incentive program is to attract new high-wage jobs to the city.
If the council approves an incentive agreement, the city would pay Comcast back for city construction sales taxes and building permit fees, and the company would use the money for job training, interim City Manager Martha Durkin said in a memo.
In return, when the call center is fully staffed in 2018, the business will be paying $3.2 million in local taxes annually, the study shows.
The estimated incentive is $180,000, said economic development specialist Camila Bekat.
βWeβre going to make great use of it,β said Ray Child, Comcast senior director of public relations. βOur center is going to include an employee base that needs to be highly specialized.β
Each employee will receive eight weeks of on-site, on-the-job training, he said.
To qualify for the incentive program, a company must also create at least 25 jobs that pay at least $52,400.
Forty of the 1,000 Comcast jobs β the management jobs β will pay that much.
The average worker at the call center will earn about $35,000 a year, according to an economic analysis prepared by Applied Economics for TREO, a local economic development firm. In the analysis packet, the Comcast center is dubbed βProject Kind.β
To get the incentive deal, a company also must spend at least $5 million on a building within city limits. Comcast plans to invest $10 million, according to the incentive program application.
Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said she is excited about the company scouting locations in the northwest part of the city, βan area in real need of access to employment.β
βWe do want to be sure theyβre meeting the threshold for not just creating jobs, but quality jobs,β she said.
The company plans to open the center this fall, but it hasnβt finalized real estate arrangements and hasnβt announced the location of the new center, Child said.
Comcastβs other local service center is within Marana town limits.
Go to jobs.comcast.com for job listings.
