Terry P wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Terry P wrote:

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Bob,

I understand your point but as taxpayers the deduction on our paystubs really does reach into our pockets.  Maybe the more correct question is, would you support the Commissioners or Magistrates incenting a retailer to locate here with B&O taxes collected?  If yes, where do you draw the line?

As you have pointed out previously, Whitley County and the City of Corbin lost the Falls Auto Group and related taxes.  Assuming for a moment the funds were available for only Harley or Falls Auto Group, who gets the incentive?  Keeping jobs is at least as important as creating them in my opinion.  I don't know where Harley will end up, but Laurel Co.'s officials are on a slippery slope in my opinion.   

Terry
   

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Terry,
You have asked some good questions. I realize my opinions are not always right and it is always important to test the options.I know taxes hurt us all. But if I had my choice I would rather my taxes would go to create jobs and help our community grow than to pay for mismanagement by county officials in Whitley County. The sad thing about the occupational tax in Whitley County is that it was necessary because of the $18 million debt to keep the county from being taken over by the State.

My life in business has been in an environment in which if we lost business or did not compete in an aggressive way  in gaining new business it meant we would have to shut down a plant, lose market share and profits, and dig out of a hole. I hated to see a plant shut down because of all the people's lives that were hurt.
 
During the 1990's and early 2000's the Corbin area lost American Greetings, NCR, National Standard, and nearly lost CTA Acoustics. I talked to some people familiar with General Shale today and that company has taken a significant cut in number of employees.

Corbin has been badly hurt by the move by Ford Group and GM Group of Auto Franchises that moved out of the Corbin, Whitley County area to Knox County.

I would never suggest using occupational taxes or any other taxes unless there was an opportunity to create some good jobs. There would be objectives established as to the number of employees to be on board by agreed upon dates, and if the average income met standards set up by the State.

If all our effort is place, on manufacturing jobs in the future we may be in trouble.  Manufacturing jobs have been moving out of our nation and service, technology, distribution and regional retail companies are creating many of the jobs. Also small entrepreneural companies with niche' markets are important.  I believe our State Economic Development incentives are missing the small business owners, and I do believe it is more important to help the companies already in Kentucky to expand and grow.

The question we face is how many opportunities each year will we have to get a company in our area that will have about 60 employees in the next three years, and will attract some other businesses to the area in which they will locate.

And the last issue we must face is if our competitors offer a program don't we want to be competitive?  

I would choose the course that seeks to win and not the one that just seeks to hold what we have. This is just my opinion.
Bob Terrell, Sr.

Years ago, General Shale bought out Corbin Brick because they couldn't compete with them. Mr. Begley kicked their butts in every way, shape, and form when it came to selling brick.  The only way they, General Shale, could survive, was to join them by buying them out. There were some long term folks that were working at General Shale, that worked for the Begley's.  Now, their livlihood is gone for good.

General Shale is like the Walmart of the brick industry. 

Anonymous wrote:

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My take on this situation is this. Correct me if I'm wrong. 

When we offered the incentives to Toyota to come to Georgetown,  many folks thought we gave up the ship to get them here. We had lost nothing, because we had nothing to start with. They weren't here anyway.

The state gave away no money, because they had gotten no money from Toyota.  So we were still even.

Toyota built, and the incentives we offered them, were really a moratorium on paying certain taxes to begin with.  The state still hadn't lost anything, because we had nothing before they built here. They, Toyota,  just kept certain parts of their tax money.

Although Toyota received certain incentives, they still paid property taxes, unemployment taxes, the used local utilities, their employees bought homes and cars and paid taxes on those to the county and city, and all the retailers in the area benefitted from those employees.  And after a certain number of years, the incentives went away, and not they're like anyone else, paying all their taxes.  Also, they've expanded several times, and are employing more people than originally thought. 

SO, we change Toyota to Harley, and Georgetown to Corbin, and it's the same concept. 

Is that the basics of it.

I understand the Mayors and Commissioners take on paying someone to come here, but, in the long run, if they don't come in, we lose more because of what we could have had because we didn't grab the opportunity at the time. 

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Thanks for your comments. I basically agree with what you have said. The Toyota move to Kentucky has proven to be one of the most successful actions taken in the last century in creating jobs. Not only did it bring Toyota to Kentucky but it brought many automotive suppliers and service groups to the state. An example is Aisin Automotive in Lily.

Governor Collins had the strength to take all kinds of abuse for the actions she took in getting Toyota to come to Kentucky. Her actions have been proven to be correct.

If you play the game to tie or just not get beat bad you won't win. I believe in living within the rules and regulations but in this competitive world you must be creative, innovative, and committed or you will get swallowed up by competition. We must have a focus on helping our current companies and in seeking new business. Is there anything we could have done to keep General Shale from cutting its employee base in Woodbine?

Bob Terrell, Sr.

I read Trent Knuckles article, and I must say, I have to agree with him to a point. While I would love to see the Harley dealer come in, I agree with Trent on the incentive issue for retailers versus manufacturers, or high tech jobs. That said however, true motorcycle mechanics nowdays are certified and are truly technicians. They are like the ASE mechanics in car dealers garages, the undergo extensive training to achieve that level of certification. I can understand the incentive for the technicians only, and other sales or other staff.

The only exception I'll take on that though, is the Walmart Distribution in London. They got huge incentives for that, and it is for retail, not manufacturing.

The down side to this, is you'll lose if you never play.

Yes, thank goodness Trent Knuckles is a reporter and not overseeing our economic development. Oh, I forgot, his editorial pretty summed up how we ARE doing business. Let's just keep sitting around waiting for industies to flock to Corbin. How's that working for us?

I disagree with the notion of paying incentives besides it sort of looks like the Harley guy might just be a real operator. I hope AJ and Steve don't get took to the cleaners on this deal. Hang in there boys. Plus I heard that the big money in Laurel was from private people. Now if there are some people with money out there that really want Harley to come to Corbin maybe they can call the guy and offer him some green. It looks like thats what turned him toward Laurel in the first place. Maybe some of you older men with lots of money might like to feel the vibration of a Harley between your legs. Uh ... well, maybe not. 

Biker with no money

A very interesting article.

Good find.

The only thing I disagree with in that article, is the issue of allowing the incentives in the poorer redevelopment areas.

So, lets put a shopping center in ghettoville, or stumpwater USA, and then expect people to shop while their cars are being stolen, there's meth sales in the parking lot, and after you hire all the yocals they steal you blind.

You get what you pay for sometimes.

Anonymous wrote:

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A very interesting article.

Good find.

The only thing I disagree with in that article, is the issue of allowing the incentives in the poorer redevelopment areas.

So, lets put a shopping center in ghettoville, or stumpwater USA, and then expect people to shop while their cars are being stolen, there's meth sales in the parking lot, and after you hire all the yocals they steal you blind.

You get what you pay for sometimes.

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I don't believe the article is referring to Ghettoville, and companies won't put any type of business in Ghettoville or next to the local crack house no matter how much you offer them. I believe they are talking about areas with that have potential but need help and creative ways to attract businesses.

Kind of like Kentucky's Enterprise Zone program, which was implemented 20 years ago but expired last year, there were incentives for manufacturers in only a handful of counties that had high unemployment and low per-capita income - Knox county having been one of them. These counties were able to offer companies no sales tax on building materials, equipment and furniture, vehicles and other puchases for the business.

Same with KREDA, a state incentive program that can rebate nearly all of a company's start-up costs for building materials, equipment, etc. - $$ millions in rebates - over 15 years. It is available in Knox county but not in Whitley. I think it should be available in Whitley, but the state dropped Whitley from the KREDA program a year or two ago, and Whitley needs to fight to get it back. If a company looks to build a manufacturing facility in Corbin, they can get the best incentives in Knox, who unfortunately doesn't give one nickle of occupational tax money back to Corbin. Mayor McBurney and the commissioners working on that.

-- Edited by Bob Terrell (Jr.) at 10:36, 2007-10-06

Is the Kentucky Enterprise Zone program going to be reimplemented? I've not been able to find anything out about it.

It would be perfect for downtown.