Firm pays back county on failed incentives

Five years after Sarasota County paid out economic incentives to Tube Dude, the company behind smiling colorful sculptures on front lawns and mailboxes in and around downtown Sarasota has repaid the amount in full.

Owner Scott Gerber completed the last of six $9,333 payments July 31. He signed an agreement with the county to do so in 2014, after failing to create jobs and returning equipment that was purchased with the original incentive grant.

“Nine thousand dollars in the summer time is a tough nut for a small business to come up with,” Gerber, who recently moved his business from a storefront on St. Armands Circle to downtown Sarasota, told the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer. “It was always on the back of my mind every single day.”