Corporate Welfare Weekly - September 18, 2009 – Issue 16
Sep 18th, 2009
Cartoon posted in a Nov 26, 2007 blog by Jonathan Osman
Don’t Mess With Speedy Tidbit…
The Charlotte Observer reported in an article written by Peter St. Onge that:
“Lowe’s Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith sued the city of Concord and Cabarrus County on Thursday, demanding that they move more quickly toward paying him for up to $4 million of road work he’s performed around his Concord track and drag strip…”
“…The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Cabarrus County Superior Court, says that city and county officials have attempted to delay reimbursing him for that work, which was part of an $80 million package they agreed upon in 2007…”
“…Last October, Concord City Manager Brian Hiatt and County Manager John Day told the Observer that their governments had not paid the bills because no formal incentive deal was in place.”
~ Peter St. Onge, Charlotte Observer, September 17, 2009
Recent Announcements…
$1,300,000 small business incentives proposal was delayed again after Thursday’s Guilford County commissioners meeting. In a News & Record article, Gerald Witt reports that the policy was “delayed… after a lengthy discussion on its fairness and legality.” Commissioners will discuss another version of the proposal on October 1st.
~ Gerald Witt, News & Record, September 18, 2009
$250,000 to Caye Home Furnishings from the One North Carolina Fund. The company is an international manufacturer of custom home furniture and will open a new plant in Taylorsville. Although no local incentives were promised to the company, the Alexander County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is purchasing almost 75% of the project site.
~ Press Release, Statesville Record & Landmark, September 18, 2009
Good News…
Jeanette Doran, Senior Staff Attorney with the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law announced Wednesday that the Institute:
“…filed a lawsuit today on behalf of two taxpayers from the Charlotte Metro area. The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court as lawsuits against the State generally are, challenges the constitutionality of the State of North Carolina’s appropriations to Johnson and Wales University, a private cooking and hospitality school in Charlotte. The State has already appropriated several million dollars to the cooking school to fulfill individual promises made by various officials. The lawsuit seeks the stop any future payments and to have the millions already given to Johnson and Wales returned to the State treasury…”
Click here to view the complaint.
Quote of the week…
“I oppose this policy because it’s not designed to create jobs, and it does not call for detailed guidelines. … Why should I subsidize the improvement of private property? ... If someone wishes to put an addition on their home for a home office, how would that benefit other taxpayers?”
~ Mike Abel, a local Attorney who spoke against the $1.3 million proposed small business incentive policy being debated by local commissioners.
Quote taken from Gerald Witt, News & Record, September 18, 2009
Discouraging Tidbits…
The News & Observer reports that two North Carolina businesses are having trouble despite the promise of incentives from state and local governments.
N&O writer Sue Stock wrote in an August 26th article that boat maker Fountain Powerboats filed for bankruptcy despite a promised state grant of $12 million. The article states:
“An attorney for the state Department of Commerce is looking into how the bankruptcy would affect a state grant, spokeswoman Deborah Barnes said. So far, the company has received no state money, because this is its first year of eligibility for the grant. The Economic Investment Committee would have to vote to terminate the grant. If the grant is left in place, the company needs to be out of bankruptcy by the end of the year to receive a payment…”
~ Sue Stock, News & Observer, August 26, 2009
N&O writer John Murawski wrote in another August 26th article that another company, Force Protection, a South Carolina-based military contractor, has turned to working on truck axles and diesel engines to save their operation. The company was granted $3 million in state incentives in 2007. Person County had also granted $1.1 million in local incentives in 2007.
~ John Murawski, News & Observer, August 26, 2009
Another Discouraging Tidbit…
The Winston-Salem Journal reported in an article by Richard Craver that Hanesbrands Inc. is selling three North Carolina plants and is closing a fourth plant.
“The company said it will stop making its own yarn and sell three of the four plants involved in yarn production to Parkdale Mills Inc. of Gastonia. … Hanesbrands is closing the fourth plant, cutting 150 jobs in Sanford. It also is closing small warehouses in Advance and Clemmons, affecting a combined 25 jobs. … Since Handesbrands’ spinoff from Sara Lee in September 2006, it has closed 11 of its 19 domestic plants. …50 headquarters jobs will be eliminated by the end of the year, and 200 distribution jobs in Winston-Salem will be eliminated in 2010.”
~Richard Craver, Winston-Salem Journal, September 18, 2009
A Winston-Salem Journal article printed in May, 2007 reported how Hanesbrands, Inc. was seeking and had received $117,000 in incentives from the city of Winston-Salem and $66,000 from Forsyth County.