$75Million in corporate welfare from Ft. Fresh

The Pennsylvania company that committed to taking over the never finished Mitsubishi Power Systems plant in Chaffee Crossing (it's a huge arse building btw) just got $75 million from Ft. Smith in the form of bonds being issued to cover the $80 Milllion pledged by the company to get the plant up and going creating 80 something jobs.

Pretty sweet deal for Glatfelter. In addition to the $75M from the bond issuance the state also kicked in $2 million in incentives and they get a $100 Milllion plant that has never been used all for a little more than $3 Million out of pocket for them.

For those that don't know why the plant was never opened, Mitsubishi was sued by General Electric for patent infringement in federal court and that held up the project and delayed promised jobs and reduced the supply of wind generators to the global market keeping the prices for those G.E. products up. The suit was dismissed in 2014, but G.E. has kept the suit going in other jurisdistricts so Mitsubishi cut their losses.

Glatfelter has to pay all the debt service requirements on the bonds, city of Ft. Smith holds the bag if Glatfelter goes belly up before the term of the bonds expire I assume.


fwiw, the payroll for the majority of the jobs that will be created will be $18-$22Million over a 10 year period



Here's some of sweetening of the pot Glatfelter gets.

quote:

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Along with the the industrial development revenue bond issue, which will gain the company a lower interest rate, Dingman's memo said Glatfelter will make payments in lieu of property taxes for 15 years that will be equal to 35 percent of what it would normally pay each year in property taxes.

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quote:

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The Arkansas Economic Development Commission offered Glatfelter an incentive package that included $2 million from the Governor's Quick Action Closing Fund. The company also will receive a cash rebate equal to 3.9 percent of its Fort Smith payroll for 10 years and sales tax refunds on building materials, taxable machinery and equipment for the plant.

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So how do I get out of 65% of my property taxes for 15 years?

Corporate Welfare really seems like socialist policy to me, I thought capitalism was meant to weed out the weak, lazy and bloated and the strongest survive on efficiency, quality and competitive pricing.