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County will review incentives

Friday, February 8, 2008
(Updated Monday, June 9 - 12:19 am)

Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the wrong incentives package amount.

GREENSBORO — County commissioners will review an incentives package of more than $204,000 for Ozark Automotive Distributors in a hearing later this month.

Commissioner Carolyn Coleman confirmed it is the same company the City Council approved incentives for Tuesday.

The company said it will create up to 360 jobs.

Commissioners approved the Feb. 21 hearing with a 9-2 vote Thursday. Skip Alston and Mike Winstead voted against the hearing after reviewing the proposal in a closed session.

The company wants to build a distribution center for O'Reilly Auto Parts in either Greensboro or Raleigh and said earlier this week that it would pay an average salary of $29,000 plus $10,000 in benefits to each employee. The jobs would be added by 2011.

Commissioners are giving more scrutiny to incentive requests.

The deals typically make agreements with companies to create a minimum number of jobs and taxable investment in exchange for a tax rebate from a local government.

Often a governing body passes the deals with little friction, saying that those packages are a necessary but ugly part of luring economic development.

But Guilford commissioners have gambled on some incentives recently, especially when they believe that a company may come anyway.

"It's got to be a make-or-break deal," Alston said after the vote, to draw his support for incentives.

In September the board denied a $1.03 million incentives request from RF Micro Devices for that company's $103 million, 300-job expansion — which the company built here anyway.

The board should make a call on the Ozark package Feb. 21.

Also Thursday, the board scheduled several other Feb. 21 hearings for the bond packages voters will see in May.

While setting those hearings, commissioners issued orders for each bond to find how the bonds would be paid if voters approve the referenda May 6, including: $412 million for Guilford County school construction and renovation; $45 million to rebuild Eastern Guilford High School; $114.6 million for a new jail; $79.5 million for GTCC; and $20 million for parks and recreation.

The votes passed as several commissioners worried over higher property tax rates resulting from the bonds.

Property taxes for the owner of a $200,000 home went up about $60 in the 2007-08 budget.

The owner of that same house would pay $58 more on next year's tax bill and $97 more in 2009-10 if the bonds passed.

"It would be a huge increase on the taxpayer," Commissioner Steve Arnold said.

Commissioners voted 11-0 on the Eastern Guilford High School bond but voted 6-5 for the other schools and 6-5 on the community college. Bruce Davis, Billy Yow, Alston, Arnold and Coleman voted no on both.

The parks bond vote passed 7-4, with Alston, Arnold, Coleman and Yow voting no.

The commissioners also voted 7-4 on the jail bond, with Alston, Arnold, Davis and Coleman voting no.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008, or gerald.witt@news-record.com

IN OTHER BUSINESS

Commissioners approved releasing $372,461 in unused federal housing and urban development funds to Greensboro to help low- and moderate-income individuals living outside the city purchase or rehab homes.

Commissioners asked County Manager David McNeill to provide a list of outside consultants by March that could be hired to review the operations of Guilford departments and suggest ways to streamline.

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