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Google plans data center in N.C


CapeFearRiver10

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I don't understand this one. $100 million for 210 jobs. I have to say thats pretty bad economics especially considering the larger metros will take the tab-I don't see Caldwell County forking over any of this money. The slippery slope begins to slide.

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I think I have to agree with Dan on this one, this is far more egregious than even the Dell deal (since it is expected to employee thousands, not 210 people). I suppose the $600 Million to build the facility will return some money to the local economy (and therefore some taxes as well), but hardly justifies a potential $100M incentive package.

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They predict, and I mean predict in the most tenuous sense, that there will be a positive $37 million impact over 12 years. Doing the math that is about $3 million per year meaning that a true minimal positive impact wouldn't be realized for 34 years at which point Google is no longer required to maintain this facility.

I saw the average salaries being around 50K per year.

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"economic incentive grants" aka. the new pork barrel

I really liked this quote from an online Observer article made by Timothy J. Rohr, a member of the Lenoir City Council.

"I'm philosophically opposed to economic development incentive grants," he said. "In my mind they're not an effective way in the long run to recruit business. I think they're a good way to make a splashy show to bring in a business...Everyone else in the community is going to have to take up the slack."

I fear now that every impoverished county in this state is going to be demanding these incentives, regardless of whether it makes financial sense for the outside taxpayers.

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I'm indifferent on the idea of incentives, but I'm not really sure I agree with the comment that "Everyone else in the community is going to have to take up the slack." What slack? Yes they are not bringing in 100% of the potential tax revenue, but without Google, they wouldn't be bringing in any. Nevermind any potential water/sewer usage and so forth that will be of a positive impact to the community. I really don't see the negative in this announcement. Just my two cents.

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The problem is that this is a one and done type deal at a ridiculously high price, especially considering the pressing needs of the large areas of this state which bring in the large percentage money of the money. Is Caldwell County really going to be transformed because of this? I would say no.

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I don't understand this one. $100 million for 210 jobs. I have to say thats pretty bad economics especially considering the larger metros will take the tab-I don't see Caldwell County forking over any of this money. The slippery slope begins to slide.
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This is a good thing for an area that has suffered with the loss of thousands of furniture jobs. The states investment starts at 4.8 million and could grow to as much as 100 million. Google will invest 600 million over the next 4 years and then expansion could occur with a campus of buildings if all goes well. Its not just about the 210 jobs, but also all the jobs that will be created to get the "server farm" up and running.

Caldwell County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state at 8.4%. The average Google job at this facility will be around 48,000, about 20,000 more than the current average salary in Caldwell County.

It may seem like a lot of money for a few jobs to us who a more fortunate (I live in Wilmington where there is "help wanted" signs every where from retail jobs to jobs at places like Corning, GE, and PPD all now hiring and/or expanding) but I am sure it means a lot to those folks that live in a community that was built around the now disappearing furniture industry.

FYI most of the money they will get as an incentive will be from tax breaks they will recieve. Money that will not be there if they don't come to the state. No investment- no taxes- no incentives- no jobs.

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I'll need to think this one through before I can render too much of an opinion beyond the following:

I don't like corporate giveaways and corporate welfare, and Google didn't really need the breaks. The Dell deal still seems a little stinky. But I also know Lenoir very well, have hung out and spent time in the area while living in Boone, and the area in in dire, dire shape economically. The folks I knew from there are well-educated and generally the kind of folks you'd want to keep around, and they left quite a while ago.

Even the nebulous benefits with this deal - trickle-down into local business and whatever it might do for area image and visibility - could represent a step up; the place is that depressed. If only 2/3 of adults in the county have high-school diplomas, one would wonder who will work there - mostly imported staff and maybe folks coming out of ASU's computer science department, and I'd bet there will be a lot of commuting from Hickory and Boone, so even those minor benfits to Lenoir would be debated. But it's come down to deals like this, or let the area turn into an NC rust belt, without any other options.

And as ethically and financially questionable as this kind of stuff is, I haven't seen many other realistic options discussed when it comes to revitalizing the economies in the NC counties that are outside of the big metros.

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They predict, and I mean predict in the most tenuous sense, that there will be a positive $37 million impact over 12 years. Doing the math that is about $3 million per year meaning that a true minimal positive impact wouldn't be realized for 34 years at which point Google is no longer required to maintain this facility.
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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm a bit surprised no one is talking about how sweet a deal Google received for 200+ jobs. Here's more news about the Google deal.

The cost of wooing Google to the state's foothills could far exceed initial estimates, with tax breaks and other public incentives potentially reaching $260 million.

...

Google pushed hard, and at times with a heavy hand, for the lucrative state incentive it received. The General Assembly last year approved a measure eliminating sales taxes on electricity and equipment that the company buys in the state.

The company's representatives grew frustrated with the legislative process, the documents show, and at one point threatened to pull the project if the bill lacked language that they wanted. They also threatened to walk if lawmakers tied Google's name to the legislation or the state.

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I think the negative responses are mostly due to the backroom closed door in the way the deal was handled, and the fact that so much was given up for so few jobs. It has come out in today's Observer that this deal may end up costing the state $250M+ instead of the $100 or so million that was earlier reported. My math says this is about $1,000,000 for each google job. How in the world can that be justified?

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wow. unbelieveable. This just keeps getting better and better :blink:

County leaders didnt even complete an economic study before offering the $260 million to Google. So they are really clueless how the Google data center is going to afffect the state over the next 30 years or how ever long they are giving Google tax breaks. This deal is really going to screw up our incentives policies and make it more difficult to compete in the future for projects that really will benefit the states.

http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/breaking/art...x?storyid=79838

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