Corporate Welfare Weekly - September 4, 2009 – Issue 14
Sep 4th, 2009
Recent Announcements…
$90,000 to SCR-Tech from the One North Carolina Fund. The Charlotte-based company is a pollution-control firm and provides equipment for coal- and gas-fired plants such as Duke Energy and Georgia Power. The company is relocating to a larger facility.
~Charlotte Business Journal, September 4, 2009
$294,000 to Precor, a fitness equipment manufacturer, from the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. The incentives were granted to help developers build a new plant at Rock Creek Center in Whitsett.
~Richard M. Barron, News & Record, September 1, 2009
$19,000 to Ostec Industries Corp. from the Lincoln Board of County Commissioners to move its five-employee metalworking shop to Lincoln County from Statesville.
~Ken Elkins, Charlotte Business Journal, August 28, 2009
$1,550,000 to DuPont Corporation to expand their Fayetteville facility. $50,000 in grants will come from the State’s One North Carolina Fund. The rest will come from the Bladen County Board of Commissioners who has also promised additional local incentives of $1.5 million over five years.
~Amanda Jones Hoyle, “Perdue Continues Incentives March,” Triangle Business Journal, August 28, 2009
Quote of the week…
“The city should have required more stringent benchmarks and accountability on employment figures from Dell’…‘If the state would overhaul its tax structure to make it more business-friendly, the need for incentives would be eliminated.”
~Peter Sorensen, Republican candidate for the Northwest Ward Winston-Salem City Council seat
Discouraging Tidbit…
The Triangle Business Journal reported in an article by Amanda Jones Hoyle that “Perdue looks a lot like Easley,” at least when it comes to the giving away of corporate incentives.
“Since January, when Perdue took office, the state has announced 20 grants worth almost $3.7 million from the One North Carolina Fund, a state-funded program that provides money through local governments to attract business projects. The state awarded 18 such grants for the same time period the year prior. They totaled $7.7 million from OneNC, including a $5 million grant to Spirit AeroSystems to build an aerospace fabrication and assemblies facility at the Global TransPark in Kinston.”…“Of the 20 projects awarded OneNC money so far in 2009, 80 percent went to existing companies expanding operations.”…“Under Easley, the split between new and existing OneNC grant awards was about 50 percent during his eight years in office.”
~Amanda Jones Hoyle, “Perdue Continues Incentives March,” Triangle Business Journal, August 28, 2009
Another Tidbit…
The Greensboro News & Record reported in an article by Gerald Witt that in a September 3rd meeting Thursday, Guilford County Commissioners “tabled discussion on a policy connected to $1.3 million in the 2009-10 budget that would give tax money to smaller business that add at least $10,000 in taxable property.”
Former Guilford County economic and community development director Rob Bencini’s Thursday News & Record column is quoted as saying the policy is “illegal and said that it favors developers.” NCICL Senior Council and former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr is also quoted in the article as saying: “You can’t just put a tax on one person or one company, nor can you give one company a tax break.” Opponents also say “the policy does not require any job creation and appears to be a tax break for specific groups.” The incentive plan will be discussed again during an open-session meeting at the Old County Courthouse at 3 p.m. on September 16th.
During Thursday’s meeting, commissioners also discussed additional economic incentives for an undisclosed business in Guilford County. A deal was not reached and will be discussed again in a hearing on September 17th. The undisclosed business is seeking $277,000 in incentives from the county.
~Gerald Witt, News & Record, September 4, 2009
Around the Country…
Connecticut goes crazy with incentives!!
The Charlotte Observer reported in a September 3rd article by Stephen Singer that Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell “offered $100 million worth of incentives Thursday to jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney to prevent the possible loss of about 1,000 jobs. The five-year plan includes lifting a cap on tax credits for parent corporation United Technologies Corp., providing training assistance, and establishing a job retention tax credit. It also includes investments in machinery and equipment and the building of an Engineering Center for Excellence for engineers at Pratt & Whitney and other aerospace companies.”
~Stephen Singer, Charlotte Observer, September 3, 2009