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Top of the morning

Post on October 20, 2011 by 3 Comments »

The stories in the South Carolina media about the how the state prevailed over North Carolina in the battle for the Continental Tire Plant include one interesting fact that not many people have mentioned.

Sumter County, as part of its 1-cent “Penny for Progress” local option sales tax, had extended water and sewer lines past the site to the Pocotaligo Industrial Park on U.S. 521 South at a cost of $2 million.

That’s right. One of the reasons the jobs are going to Sumter County is that the voters there approved a one-cent local sales tax hike in 2008 to pay for infrastructure improvements, as well as new sidewalks, parks, and local road projects.

Meanwhile, the folks at the right-wing think tanks in North Carolina are doing everything they can to defeat proposed local-option sales tax increases on the ballot in four counties November 8.

No pennies for progress here if the right-wingers get their way.

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Comments (Closed):3

  1. Eunice
    October 20, 2011 at 7:31 am

    I hardly think we lost this plant because of a $2 million dollar sewer line. I think there were some much larger issues that swayed the decision, primarily political questions about the site ownership in North Carolina..

  2. Frances Jenkins
    October 20, 2011 at 7:36 am

    Boy, you work hard to extend the truth on this one. Perhaps, it was the use of the tax money rather the tax that scored the company.

  3. david esmay
    October 20, 2011 at 10:08 am

    Without the tax for improvement, there would be no money Frances, you’re putting the cart before the horse, and Eunice, who gives a damn about who owns the property, certainly not the people who hoped to work there. Berger shot himself in the foot, he’s a small minded, small time player, who is ignorant of the economic devastation right outside his own front door. If it weren’t for Miller Brewing they’d be rolling up the sidewalks in Eden.