Hamilton County courts 2,000 more jobs

Funny how .gov builds this up as a big catch. The big VW catch will not have the impact predicted, see new BMW and other plants. The local investment was a bond issue of $40 million, but local gov spend a great amount in local operating budgets and other incentives to the tune of $212 million. The 2,000 jobs cost local taxpayers over $100,000 per job, and VW is exempt from property taxes and storwmater fees for 30 years. Of course the plant life will not be 30 years. Fact is, this is another corporation that will get a boat load of our local tax dollars. Instead of investing in small to mid sized businesses that create more jobs per investment dollar, foreign interests are in our local tax dollars. Why not, our local leaders just cannot say no.

wildman, Of the 2,000 jobs created, how many are local workers? I am certain you don't know. If you choose to ignore facts, that is truely your problem. Of the 1,000 workers at VW hired this summer, only 324 were Ham. County residents. Of course, WE are paying the big VW tab. VW has not impacted local small business, stop telling lies. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/20...

Allison12- So your telling a small business owner who claims that they have seen an increase in business due to VW, a liar? You have inside information about their business to know it's not true? Wow. You have got brass ones.

You both missed the point. Local taxpayers or local property tax dollars of $212 million into a private corporation for 2,000 tangible jobs, of which 324 were Ham. County residents so far. You do the math. If job creation, similar to the Obama stimulus plan creates a job at $95,000 to $100,000, was that a good investment, fellors? If so, please elect Ron Littlefield for county mayor, and vote Obama in 2012.

@Allison12, I lived in Sring Hill, Tennessee. When Saturn relocated to the area only a few local residents were hired to work at the GM plant. Saturn brought many of its own workers from other parts of the country. I think that it would be beneficial if State and County officials required manufacturers to hire a certain percentage of workers locally. Hiring locally would reduce the amount of people unemployed.

mart1ros There are huge sums of taxpayer money going to the Chamber of Commerce ($800k per year) and expeditures placed in operating budget of both 'govs (City/County) going to consultants for VW. The money train continues. The big lie to the public is that the only local investment into VW was the $40 million bond issue. There have been millions in consulting fees to the Chamber, in addition to the regular taxpayer contribution, they have recieved $500K to 900K each year for VW consulting. The City funds through it operating budget an entire VW section staffed with consultants in the DRC. I heard the County and City Mayor state that the only local taxpayer investment was the $40 million dollar bond issue on the radio. This is a flat out lie. Our tax dollars are flowing into VW, with no real return, becasue they exempt from property taxes and fees for 30 years. Each of those VW jobs cost over $100,000 each. If some wish to believe the PR lies, have at it. Just don't include me.

Allison and Mart1ros you guys are everything that's wrong with this city when it comes to business. Chattanoogans have no expertise in auto manufacturing, so you knew V.W. would only be able to hire so many natives. Plus, I've heard unofficially of course, from a V.W. friend of mine that %60 of the local applicants are failing the drug test! I have nothing to prove that, but have you taken into consideration that many local workers aren't getting hired because of who THEY are, not because of who V.W. is?

Your feeling of entittlement is the same one that brought Detroit down. Hire a local if he's qualified, otherwise, go with the best man for the job. I am working in East Brainerd and I can tell you that our business is "through the roof" since V.W. arrived. We can barely keep up with demand.

Last thing: I heard a rumor a couple months back, from a contractor taking giving bids, that Shaw Industries was looking to consolidate here in a big way near V.W plant. Again it's just a rumor but that could be our mystery business.

Champ1, You betcha it is entittlement for locals. Hello, it is our money my friend to tune of $212 million. I am completely against giving local tax dollars to a foreign interest, to benefit everyone but us. As long as MY tax dollars are being spent, you are darn right I have an expectation for a return and huge benefit to local workers. Frankly, VW has no loyalities to american workers or our community for that matter. You need to get grip on the financial reality at work here. VW is here only because of the $212 million dollar investment, and the minute the market shifts they will leave. The average life span of an automobile plant is about 11 years. It will take over 30 years to realize a rate of return on the $212 million dollar investment directly from the pockets of Hamilton County and City taxpapers. You are darn right there is entitlement by local taxpayers to the tune of $212 million.

This is more fun than facebook blogging. You guys are smart.

Allison, we spent $212 million, they spent 1 billion. Which one's greater? This is a huge investment for V.W. as well and they can't afford to have it go bust anymore than we can. But, you are right in that we are too highly levered to V.W. because if they do leave at this point it will kill us, but they will still be viable after they go. Hence, the reason why it is so good to see another major investment coming into town. Yes, V.W. is using us but we are using them too. We are using them to get our name's on the map, and for all intents and purposes it appears to be working very well. As a city, we need at least four more V.W. sized companies to shield us from a potential collapse on their part. We had to give away the farm to get them, I understand that, but that's why they call it an investment. It will pay off in the long run.

Champ1, please tell me that you don't believe that big business creates that majority of jobs in the US. Real job creation is investing in LOCAL small to mid-sized businesses. If there is a market shift in car sales, bet on it, VW will be gone, and there is no contract provision for local taxpayers to recoop that investment. But even if VW stays, the taxpayer investors will NEVER realize a rate of return on the initial investment. The average life of an auto plant is about 11-18 years. The taxpayers are the stockholders of our corporation call Chattanooga. Mathematically, the public investment to VW does not amortize out until 62 years, based upon Dept. of Commerce constants used to estimate the tangible and intangible revenue from this investment. The UT study that evaluated the financial feasibility of the local taxpayer investment of $212 million used a 30 year rate of return for all calculations that assume that VW will remain in operation for 30 years. That is not going to happen. Only in a fantasy world will VW be in Chattanooga for 30 years. High risk investment of public money to this magnitude should not happen.

I'm in the staffing world and have come across this new company that helps folks with resumes, job search tools, negotiations, etc. Careerfoo.com. You get all this stuff for only $95 dollars. I don't work for them, but have seen the resumes, cover letters, etc that they are providing. I just thought that some of you might have an interest in knowing about them if a firm like this comes here. TIFWIW.

Allison, while small business does indeed employ 80% of this country all business tends to follow major employers. Major employers are the key to growth, and growth is the key to burden-free tax revenue,when properly combined with fiscal governmental discipline. Look at Atlanta. It is not as well run as Chattanooga, it has no natural waterway on which it can depend, and it lacks our natural beauty. So why do so many people move there? Jobs. Their list of major employers and corporate headquarters are unbelievable when compared to ours. Now, I know we only want to be a great mid-sized city, but you can't do that when you don't bring in enough revenue to support your infrastructure properly. The manufacturers, servicers, and venues that follow major employers that pay living wage salaries are more than a payoff for the short-term investment made to bring them in. But what I think is of the most importance, is the opportunity thousands of jobs bring to potential homegrown entreprenuers. Got an idea for a restaurant you'd like to try? For years native Chattanoogans have been notorious for only wanting certain types of food and entertainment, but now you can think outside the box and make that idea work if it is well done. The last city that I lived in had more millionares per capita than any other city in the U.S., coincidentally they also had more major corporations per capita than any other city in the U.S. Coincidence? Of course not! These new major employers bring opportunity for everyone. I have no interest in ever working for V.W. or any other major employer looking to come in to town because I think the real money is in the opportunity that they bring to local entreprenuers. It's just like running a business Allison, once we get what we want we jack up the prices (i.e. lose the incetives). Till then, we gotta give some discounts.

Can it be Amazon?

It is an Amazon warehouse is what I heard.

@ Allison 12: It's clear that you have no clear conception of how VW's presence in Chattanooga will benefit the city and county. You are selectively picking and choosing numbers to bolster your case, you you ignore the other 95% that disprove your contentions. You also sit there and tell someone who owns a small business that they don't know what they're talking about in terms of PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, because your hand-picked numbers say otherwise.

I seriously question where you got your average lifespan of an auto factory from, because the majority of auto factories in existence have been operational for much longer than your "11-18 years" claim. You might have skewed numbers because of GM and Chrysler closing down long-operating plants, but most of them were in operation for 4 decades or more.

The bottom line is that Chattanooga hit a steep decline when industry left the downtown area decades ago. I still remember when you didn't go downtown after 6pm. Now downtown is vibrant, full of life, and there's always something going on. Yes, that is largely tourism-based, but you can't built a strong economic base on tourism alone.

One important thing that you have continuously overlooked: while many of the VW hires may not be FROM Hamilton County, they WILL be spending money in Hamilton County and likely living in the county. That means that they WILL be contributing in terms of sales taxes, property taxes, etc. The other thing you overlook is the number of first-tier suppliers that will be starting operations in the area, which will also contribute directly to the local economy.

In the long run, the economic benefits of VW and associated development will far outweigh the amount of taxpayer funds being used today.

tntoak, I have the UT study that I obtained from the Chamber of Commerce and the full incentive package, and the skills and education to analyze it. Note, that your response is typical of a direct benefactor to the consulting bucks. Your method of attributing financial return of taxpayer investment relies solely on theory. Fact is the UT study anticipated that suppliers would be located within a 200 miles. Become informed, the suppliers anticipated by the study did not relocate, in fact the primary suppliers are predominately in Mexico and Michigan. You my friend need to read the UT study, and identify the assumption on rate of return, 1) 30 year plant life, 2) supplies would locate within a 200 mile radius. Now the study did infact assume these conditions, and the plant life will not be 30 years, nor did the suppliers move her. You are either a liar, or very ill informed.