Jordan Buie

jbuie@tennessean.com

The international company Schneider Electric USA Inc. has moved one step closer to receiving a tax incentive Williamson County officials hope will lure in over a thousand high-paying jobs.

The Williamson County Commission passed a resolution 18 to 4 to approve a roughly $2 million tax rebate incentive for the company that would be dispersed over the course of 10 years.

The incentive, requested by the Industrial Development Board of Williamson County, would be in return for 1,140 jobs expected to pay an average of $73,000 annually with benefits.

The French energy management and automation company is considering a move into Two Franklin Park, a building slated to open in Cool Springs next March.

The move to Cool Springs would relocate about 890 full-time jobs and create about 250 full-time jobs.

"I think this was a great thing for Williamson County, and the vote was affirmed by two thirds of the commission in favor of saying to Schneider come on to Williamson County," said Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson. "We are now waiting on the final decision from the State of Tennessee, and hopefully in the next short period of time we are going to have a major announcement coming out of the governor's office that they will be relocating here."

The process of approval will now go on to the state department of economic development and the comptroller's office, Anderson said.

Some commissioners raised questions before the vote as to why the incentive was being given to Schneider to move into the location at Two Franklin Park.

Commissioner Sherri Clark, district 9, asked whether the building would be utilized if Schneider didn't move in.

J. Thomas Trent Jr., a real estate attorney specializing in incremental incentive programs, who has advised the county on the tax increment financing program, said that the building could be filled but that the incentive was for the jobs, not just for the building.

"The purpose of doing the incentive is to get the Schneider company to move here rather than to spend the money doing the project in another city," he said. "If your goal were to simply to have another office building in Cool Springs, you already have that. If your goal is to have 1,140 new jobs in Williamson County that bring in an average wage of $73,000 a year plus benefits ...that's why you do incentives."

Trent previously told the property committee the company must deliver on at least 80 percent of the jobs promised or the county can deduct the tax incentives it gives back to the community in relation to the number of jobs not produced.

Schneider Electric already has 1,500 Nashville-area employees, including locations in Nashville, two locations in La Vergne and another in Smyrna.

Commissioners Clark, Todd Kaestner, Brandon Ryan and Judy Herbert voted against the resolution

Reporter Melanie Balakit contributed to this report.

Reporter Jordan Buie can be reached at jbuie@tennessean.com or on Twitter @jordanbuie