From the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel:
Local union officials Tuesday questioned a proposed tax break for a Fort Wayne company with government ties and, they claimed, a poor track record of living up to its promises of new jobs.
In a City Council hearing, two representatives of the Northeast Indiana Central Labor Council spoke out against a tax abatement package for Calico Precision Molding, a company partly owned by Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters.
Labor council president Tom Lewandowski said Calico had failed to turn previous tax breaks into new jobs, raising questions about whether taxpayers were getting their money's worth for the incentives.
"The questions becomes, what economic benefit is being derived by the city," Lewandowski told City Council.
Calico is asking for the tax incentives as part of a plan to make about $543,000 in upgrades to its plant, adding 15 production and administrative jobs with an average salary of $25,187.
In 2008, the city granted Calico tax abatement after the company, which then employed 46 people, promised to add 20 more jobs. Since then, however, the company has reduced its staff to 33, according to Calico purchasing manager Teresa Gooding. The company, which makes parts for cars and recreational vehicles, blamed its lack of hiring on the economic downturn.
"The recession hit, and we did lose employees, and we did not bring in what we wanted to bring in," Gooding said.
Because Calico had not delivered on its previous plans, Lewandowski said a new tax break could appear to be a sign of favoritism toward the company, of which Commissioner Peters owns a 10 percent share.
...
Council voted unanimously to hold Calico's request for two weeks, allowing company and city officials to provide more details on the company's performance.
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120815/NEWS/120819779/0/SEARCH
