SEBRING – Businesses in Highlands County that want to add employees in 2008 might be able to tap into a fund that will offset some of the cost. The Highlands County Economic Development Trust Fund was established by the county commission in 2006 to support the economic development goals of the county and to mitigate the possible negative effect of impact fees, which were initiated in January of this year. The program is designed to support the expansion of existing industry as well as the recruitment of new industry to the county. To be eligible, companies must meet certain criteria that include meeting minimum average wage requirements for new as well as existing employees and creating a minimum number of new jobs. Companies meeting the guidelines may receive $500 per new job with a maximum program benefit of $50,000 for each company. ...more

December 23, 2007

Zephyrhills Spring Water Co.'s plan to build a retention pond on property it owns east of its plant in the city is only a small part of a growing level of discomfort some of its residential neighbors are feeling about the bottler these days. ...more

December 14, 2007

A Mississippi-based company opened a 70,000-square-foot factory in a local industrial park on Thursday, creating 35 new jobs in the city. ...more

December 12, 2007

The Home Depot is laying off 750 people locally and closing its call center in Brandon. ...more

December 4, 2007

With oil prices approaching $100 a barrel, now is the time for Washington to get serious about ending the nation's addiction to oil. Fortunately, sensible measures making their way through Congress would lessen our dependence. ...more

November 12, 2007

Slow job growth, coupled with the effects of a troubled real estate market, is pushing down demand for new homes in the Tampa Bay area, according to a report released Wednesday. ...more

November 1, 2007

The city is poised to ink a construction agreement with Sysco Food Services Corp., the Houston-based food distribution giant that wants to bring 132 new jobs and a 393,000-square-foot facility to east Zephyrhills. ...more

October 18, 2007

Fears that the country could slide into a recession eased in September as employers created the most jobs in four months and workers' wages grew solidly. The unemployment rate crept up to 4.7 percent, the highest in more than a year but still low by historical standards. ...more

October 6, 2007

Unemployment is low and the labor force is still growing, but the area's housing market continues to drag down the local economy, according to a new snapshot of Bay area economic conditions. ...more

October 3, 2007

For a brief moment today, County Commission members thought they had slashed more than $15 million in proposed spending to balance the county's budget for fiscal 2008. ...more

September 5, 2007