Apple hopes jobs, property tax will get Cupertino to approve its “spaceship” HQ - Ars Technica
What Apple's spaceship campus is expected to look like from above
For all we've heard of Apple's new, UFO-like "Campus 2" and its projected 2016 opening date, the company is still awaiting the city's final approval for the project. To that end, The Next Web reports that the company has released (PDF) an environmental and fiscal impact report that estimates both the amount of taxes and the number of jobs Apple would contribute to the California city of Cupertino if the project was approved.
The report says that Apple directly employs about 16,000 full-timers at present, making it "the second largest technology employer in Silicon Valley," supplying about 40 percent of all jobs in Cupertino. The report also estimates that a further 12,100 jobs in Santa Clara County are supported by the Apple employees in the area and that (assuming a "conservative" 10 percent growth rate in employee head count) the company will directly employ a total of 23,400 employees by the new campus' projected opening in 2016.
The report also goes into some detail about Apple's local taxes, a particularly interesting topic in the light of recent allegations about the company's national taxes:
For all we've heard of Apple's new, UFO-like "Campus 2" and its projected 2016 opening date, the company is still awaiting the city's final approval for the project. To that end, The Next Web reports that the company has released (PDF) an environmental and fiscal impact report that estimates both the amount of taxes and the number of jobs Apple would contribute to the California city of Cupertino if the project was approved.
The report says that Apple directly employs about 16,000 full-timers at present, making it "the second largest technology employer in Silicon Valley," supplying about 40 percent of all jobs in Cupertino. The report also estimates that a further 12,100 jobs in Santa Clara County are supported by the Apple employees in the area and that (assuming a "conservative" 10 percent growth rate in employee head count) the company will directly employ a total of 23,400 employees by the new campus' projected opening in 2016.
The report also goes into some detail about Apple's local taxes, a particularly interesting topic in the light of recent allegations about the company's national taxes:
In 2012, property occupied by Apple in Cupertino generated approximately $25 million of local property tax revenue. This revenue was distributed to local public agencies, including: the City of Cupertino, local schools, the Santa Clara County Library, the Central Fire Protection District, Santa Clara County, and other local service/taxing agencies. Apple Campus 2 is anticipated to annually generate an additional $32 million of property tax revenue to local public agencies. Total recurring property tax revenues to fund local community services are expected to exceed $50 million each year.
If this sort of thing is interesting to you, the full report is worth a read. Apple has been trying to get a second campus approved by Cupertino since at least 2006. In 2011, former CEO Steve Jobs pitched the "spaceship" project to Cupertino's city council in what was to be his final public appearance.