EPB and Volkswagen logosOTHER ‘PORK’
• $1.5 million in state incentives for General Motors’ Spring Hill plant;• $25 million to continue developing the West Tennessee Megasite in rural west Tennessee;• $500,000 for “Birthplace of County Music” museum in East Tennessee;• $5.8 million property tax break to Gaylord Entertainment and Dollywood Co. for a water and snow park east of Nashville.Source: Beacon Center
NASHVILLE — Volkswagen and EPB defended themselves after a statewide advocacy group said Tuesday they were among the biggest wasters of taxpayer money in Tennessee last year.
Both companies said they have enhanced the image of Chattanooga around the U.S. and the world and also improved the quality of life for residents.
A state grant for a massive $266,000 “Volkswagen Chattanooga” sign on top of the plant and EPB’s venture into cable and high-speed broadband Internet are among targets skewered in a “Tennessee Pork Report.”
Issued Tuesday by the Beacon Center, a state-based government watchdog group that advocates free-market approaches to public policy, the report cites the two projects among dozens of examples of what they say is $468 million in wasteful spending across the state during the past year.