The Metro Council has amended an economic development deal with IBM to give the company until 2019 to meet hiring thresholds at its Baton Rouge Client Innovation Center.
The council approved the revised agreement—between the state, the Wilbur Marvin Foundation, the city-parish and IBM—at its meeting on Tuesday.
IBM has failed to meet its mandated job numbers for this year and requested additional time to reach employment thresholds, said Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Rowdy Gaudet.
Under a 2013 cooperative endeavour agreement, the company was supposed to have created 800 jobs by the start of this year. As Daily Report previously reported, it only created 572 jobs by the deadline.
To draw the tech giant to Baton Rouge, the state initially gave IBM an incentive package valued at $29.5 million, including $1.5 million from the city-parish.
The state has also given IBM until 2019 to reach the 800-jobs threshold, and IBM has agreed to pay a penalty of $10,000 for each job below 800 if it fails to meet the goal.
—Alexandria Burris
