Tucson, Ariz., City Council Delays Decision on Former Beverage Plant
Posted on: Friday, 8 July 2005, 00:00 CDT
Jul. 7--Questions about water usage and tax incentives delayed City Council action on a proposal that would bring a new buyer to the former Slim-Fast plant on South Rita Road.
The council will likely have to call a special session before July 18 to revisit the proposal to give the unnamed company a $3.5 million tax break on it property taxes.
Under the agreement, the company would buy the plant and the land and hand it over to the city, which would then lease it back to the company through the Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities Inc.
Council members raised questions about the amount of water the company would use. City officials told the council the new company estimates it will use about 330,000 gallons per day to manufacture its diet drinks. That's about one-third the amount of water Slim-Fast had originally estimated it would use.
Councilman Steve Leal worried about giving tax breaks to large corporations when the city could use that money for its own programs.
"I'm worried that we're lowering the bar for our city for economic development contracts in the future," Leal said.
Kendall Bert, director of the city's economic development office, said the tax breaks are about half what Slim-Fast got for the same property and said the city will get much more in return for the tax benefits the company will get.
"To get that benefit, they're going to have to spend $35 million in taxes in this community," Bert said.
Of all the taxing jurisdictions, Pima County would lose the most amount of potential revenue under the deal, and the city would miss out on only about $20,000 to $24,000 per year in tax revenues.
No date was set for the special council session to vote on the proposal.
-----
To see more of The Arizona Daily Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.azstarnet.com.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
UL, ULVR, UN,
Source: The Arizona Daily Star
Related Articles
- The City Wide Council of Presidents of the New York City Housing Authorities' Residents Pledges $1.5 Million Toward Securing the AMBER Ready Program for 30,000 Families in NYC Public Housing
- JPL, Caltech, City of Los Angeles Team Up On Energy/Water Initiatives
- Tampa Electric Awarded IRS Tax Credits for Proposed Advanced Clean Coal Project
- City Moving Forward on First Phase of Storm Water Loans
- Of N.C. Cities, Durham's Fees Highest: Proposal Would Raise Property Taxes and Fees for City Services
- Dunes City Halts Growth to Dive into Issue of Water Quality
- EDITORIAL: City Wise to Study Proposed Artificial Wetlands Along River
- W. Chicago Suspends City Tax on Natural Gas
- Finding All City's Dead Will Take 90 Days As Toxic Water is Pumped Away
- World: Opec President to Propose Production Raise By 500,000 Barrels/ D
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds