SafeAuto Insurance Co. has announced plans to locate a new customer contact and backup data center in Somerset, bringing 263 new jobs to the community.
SafeAuto is a regional insurance provider offering insurance in 14 states to individuals who wish to carry only the state-required minimum coverage. The company will initially locate in the Enterprise Center building in the Valley Oak Business and Technology Park until final plans for its 24,000-s.f. permanent contact center are complete. The new facility, which will be constructed on the grounds of the Technology Park, is expected to be complete within two years.
Carol Estes, executive director of the Somerset Pulaski County Industrial Development Foundation, told the (Somerset) Commonwealth Journal that 50 percent of the new hires will be insurance agents, with the remainder serving as customer service agents. Annual salaries for the insurance agents will be in the range of $40,000, with customer service agent salaries ranging between $25,000 and $30,000 per year. The total annual payroll will be approximately $7.3 million.
Earlier this year, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority granted preliminary approval to SafeAuto for tax benefits of up to $3.2 million under the Kentucky Jobs Development Act (KJDA), a program designed to expand service- and technology-based employment in the state. It is the first project to benefit from a recent legislative amendment to the program, which is administered by the Cabinet for Economic Development. The amendment omits language that previously prohibited companies providing direct services to the public that employed licensed professionals such as attorneys, insurance agents, doctors and brokers from being eligible for the program.
To qualify for the program, companies must still meet all other conditions of the KJDA, including the requirement that it provide 75 percent of its services to persons located outside the commonwealth. The change is intended to capitalize on the trend in the industry whereby a company may offer insurance policies or other services via the Internet.
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