Image: Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Deputy Commissioner of Business, Community and Rural Development Allen Borden along with Assistant Commissioner of Administration and Operations Jessica Johnson and Assistant Commissioner of Business and Workforce Development Jamie Stitt present to the Tennessee State Funding Board. Image Credit: Tennessee Comptrollers’ Office
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has $88.3 million of uncommitted funds in its FastTrack business incentive grant account after a $1.25 million grant to PPG Industries was approved at the State Funding Board’s June meeting.
PPG plans to build a $225 million paint and coatings manufacturing facility in Loudon and says it will create 129 new jobs at the more than 250,000 square foot facility.
The FastTrack grant program are state grants sent to companies to help offset the costs of expanding or moving into the state with the goal of increasing the number of full-time jobs and the average wages of jobs available in an area.
PPG promised to have an average wage of $34.57 at the facility. The TNECD compared that wage to the median wage of $17.98 in Loudon County to justify the incentive.
Economists question the effectiveness of financial incentives to private businesses to expand or come to a new state.
The use of hourly wage as an indicator is questioned because high salaries of a few corporate leaders can skew the average higher while it would not have the same impact on the median wage.
Overall, the TNECD has a FastTrack incentive grant balance of $613.3 million with $525 million of those funds committed to businesses moving to or expanding in Tennessee.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
