‘How ’bout No, You Crazy Dutch….’
1:40 pm in Uncategorized by ThirdandState
By Mark Price, Third and State
On Monday night, the Lower Allen Township commissioners in Cumberland County considered a proposal from Ahold USA, the corporate parent of Giant Food Stores, for a $400,000 property tax abatement on a meat repackaging plant on which the company has already broken ground. (Ahold USA is itself the subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Ahold.)
The company has neglected a basic principle of the economic development game through which companies extract subsidies and tax breaks from states and localities where they were going to build anyway: until you have the subsidy in hand, don’t give away that it will not impact your location decision.
But since the company made this error, the title of this blog post, taken from the Austin Powers movie Goldmember, should suffice for the township’s answer. (It is pure coincidence that Goldmember, a Dutchman pictured to the right, has a gold G on his velvet sweatsuit.)
Here are two stories on this issue.
- Roger Quigley, Patriot-News — Lower Allen Township commissioners delay decision on tax-relief request
- Jim T. Ryan, Central Penn Business Journal — Lower Allen delays LERTA decision for Giant/Ahold facility
The Lower Allen commissioners should continue to say no to Ahold’s request because it is a simple giveaway that diverts needed tax revenue from the township. It would be that much costlier if the West Shore School District (which has absorbed $2.2 million in state budget cuts since 2010-11) and Cumberland County (where property taxes for most homeowners and businesses may rise by 22% next year) follow suit.
The repackaging plant will consolidate meat cutting operations for Ahold USA’s stores in the mid-Atlantic region. Customers will no longer get their meat freshly cut in the store, instead, the meat cutting and packaging function is being moved to a central location with easy access to the interstate. Some meat cutters will lose their jobs in the process, while others might be offered jobs at the new facility, at a lower wage.
For its $400,000, Lower Allen Township is being promised between 450 and 800 jobs; there is no word on how many jobs will be lost at Giant Food Stores in the region or at the company’s Maryland division.
