The Governor’s Office of Economic Development board often awards economic incentives to companies in financial technology, medical innovation and other high-tech sectors.
A company approved for an incentive this month focuses on mowing lawns.
Specifically, TaskEasy Inc. uses a website and mobile app to connect property owners with contractors to get lawns mowed and snow cleared. The Salt Lake City-based company was approved for a tax credit incentive of $806,842 tied to the creation of 191 jobs over five years.
“Most companies coming recently [for GOED incentives] have something to do with data analytics. This has something to do with something that really needs to be done: either get your lawn mowed and cleaned up or get your snow removed,” said Mel Lavitt, chairman of the GOED board’s incentives committee. “It’s ingenuous to think of how to take something that everything thinks is ‘You’ve got to call Joe, who owns the lawn mower company,’ to take this and bring everything together.”
Ken Davis, the company’s chief executive officer, told the board that through 5,700 service providers, the company has mowed a million lawns and expects 3 million to be added next year. The company operates in more than 10,000 cities nationwide.
“TaskEasy was founded in the uniquely entrepreneurial culture of Utah, and starting in this environment has really helped support our growth,” Karl Sowa, the company’s chief operations and marketing officer, said in a prepared statement. “We’re pleased to double-down on our growth here in Salt Lake City, and this state of Utah investment will help us achieve our job creation goals even faster.”
The company has 170 employees in Salt Lake City. The $6.5 million expansion is expected to result in engineering and research and development jobs paying an average of $86,894 a year. The project is expected to produce new wages totaling more than $50 million over five years and new state tax revenue of nearly $5.4 million during that time.
“TaskEasy is experiencing massive growth and is expanding into new strategic markets across all 50 states,” Val Hale, GOED’s executive director, said in a prepared statement. “We are pleased that they’ve chosen to stay in Utah. We are excited about the jobs this expansion will create and the company’s contribution in making Utah a premier destination for business.”
“We always love seeing Utah companies grow in the state,” said Theresa Foxley, president and chief executive of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “TaskEasy’s growth will continue to have a positive impact on Utah’s economy.”