Wake commissioners OK MetLife incentives, school bonds

The insurance giant will consolidate some of its operations, bringing about 1,300 jobs to Cary and another 1,300 to Charlotte to handle its U.S. retail business. The company will invest $125 million combined in the two campuses.

Wake County guidelines call for companies to invest $100 million in local operations and create at least 50 jobs to be eligible for grant assistance. Commissioners adjusted the policy to allow county grants to companies who invest $50 million to create at least 250 high-paying jobs.

The average salary of the MetLife jobs in Cary is expected to top $100,000, which is more than double the average salary in Wake County.

With the policy change, MetLife will be eligible for up to $1.9 million from the county between 2015 and 2022. The company also received more than $94 million in state incentives.

In other business, the Board of Commissioners approved issuing $51.1 million in bonds for public school construction, $104.2 million in bonds for Wake Technical Community College projects and $21 million in bonds to purchase parcels for open space.

About $19 million of the school bonds, which won't require a property tax increase, will be used for the planned Career and Technical Education High School. The rest will go toward priorities in the Wake County Public School System building program.

Officials have said school building needs could top $2 billion.

Voters approved the open space bonds in 2007 and the Wake Tech bonds last fall.