Chapter 380 of the Local Government Code authorizes the City to provide funds through grants for the

The council approved a Chapter rental cars phoenix az 380 Economic Development rental cars phoenix az Program Grant Agreement rental cars phoenix az between the City of San Antonio and Southwest Airlines Co to provide financial incentives in an amount not to exceed rental cars phoenix az $581,649.00 over 10 years to retain and expand the Southwest Airlines Customer Support rental cars phoenix az and Services Center operations in San Antonio.
As one of our original cities, Southwest Airlines has a long-standing relationship with the San Antonio community, and we are optimistic that the new center will provide additional opportunities to grow our Southwest Airlines family in San Antonio, she said.
The current location is in northwest San Antonio rental cars phoenix az along Interstate 10, while the new location is in northeast San Antonio along Interstate 35. The new San Antonio center will be in leased space, while Southwest owns its current center near Interstate 10.
At one time, Southwest rental cars phoenix az operated nine reservations centers, including offices in Little Rock, Dallas and Salt Lake City. Those three were closed in February 2004. The carrier is now down to six centers, renamed in 2009 as customer support and services centers, rental cars phoenix az in Chicago, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Houston, Phoenix and San Antonio.
Where the vast majority of its tickets used to be paper tickets sold via the reservations centers, that s changed with the advent of the Internet and ticketless bookings. In 2011, 78 percent of Southwest s tickets were sold online, accounting for 74 percent of its revenues.
This Ordinance authorizes the City to enter into a Chapter 380 Economic Development Program Grant Agreement with Southwest Airlines to provide $581,649.00 in financial incentives over 10 years provided the company: (1) retains its Customer Support and Services Center and existing 478 jobs in San Antonio; (2) adds 322 new jobs; (3) invests approximately $4 million; and (4) locates and retains a total of 800 jobs for at least 10 years at 11711 IH 35N, San Antonio, Texas, 78233 in District 10.
Southwest Airlines (SWA) was incorporated in Texas and commenced service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving rental cars phoenix az three Texas cities Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. SWA is the United States most successful low fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier, carrying over 88 million passengers in 2010. SWA currently rental cars phoenix az operates six Customer Support and Services Centers rental cars phoenix az in Albuquerque, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio.
In February, 2011, Southwest Airlines finalized rental cars phoenix az its acquisition of AirTran Holdings, Inc. for $1.4B in cash and stock. The acquisition provided Southwest Airlines with a presence in 37 new cities, including rental cars phoenix az Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (AirTran s main hub) and two AirTran customer service centers in Orlando and Atlanta. Following this acquisition, SWA began discussions with staff about their intent to consolidate customer service operations in San Antonio or at one or more of their other customer service centers.
In 1981, SWA opened its Customer Services and Support Center rental cars phoenix az in San Antonio at 3635 Medical Drive. This facility currently accommodates the existing workforce of 478 but cannot expand to include the additional 322 employees SWA plans to hire by the end of 2012. Therefore, SWA began exploring other sites in San Antonio to accommodate a potential consolidation and growth. Other expansion sites SWA considered include Orlando, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix.
In order to retain and expand the SWA customer support operations and jobs in San Antonio, staff offered the following financial incentives to Southwest Airlines: (1) a cash grant of $440,000 payable over 2 years with an initial payment of $220,000 upon receipt of a Certificate of Occupancy and execution of a long-term lease in a new facility and a second payment of $220,000 upon the company demonstrating it has retained/created a minimum of 800 total jobs at its new facility; (2) a grant of approximately $141,649 rental cars phoenix az payable over 10 years based on the company s annual rental cars phoenix az payment of personal property taxes.
In exchange for these incentives, Southwest Airlines has agreed to do the following: (1) retain and expand their Customer Support and Services Center in San Antonio; (2) retain 478 jobs and add 322 new jobs for a total of 800 jobs in the building on 11711 IH 35N, San Antonio, Texas, 78233 by December 31, 2012; and (3) meet the City s minimum living wage requirement of $10.75/hr for all employees at the project site.
Chapter 380 of the Local Government Code authorizes the City to provide funds through grants for the purpose of conducting and facilitating economic development. Through rental cars phoenix az this Agreement, SWA would continue rental cars phoenix az to operate their Customer Support and Services Center in San Antonio and maintain a total 800 jobs for at least 10 years.
SWA has decided to retain and expand their Customer Support and Services Center in San Antonio resulting in the retention of 478 existing jobs and the creation of 322 new jobs based on financial incentives offered by staff to secure this project. If Council rental cars phoenix az chooses not to approve these incentives, SWA could elect to cease customer services operations rental cars phoenix az in San Antonio and consolidate and expand their customer service operations in other cities outside Texas where SWA has existing operations.
Funds are available in the Economic Development Incentive Fund to fund the cash grants totaling $440,000 payable in 2012 and 2013. The grant rebate of annual personal property taxes not to exceed $141,649 will be paid over 10 years and is based on the company s planned investment of $4 million. This rebate of personal property taxes does not include the City s debt service portion of SWA s personal property tax payments.