This April 30, 2014, file photo shows the company logo of Alstom at the headquarters in Levallois-Perret, outside Paris, France.For the first time, Chattanooga and Hamilton County are demanding that a local business pay them back for a tax break it received because the company didn’t meet its obligations under the agreement.
Mayors Andy Berke and Jim Coppinger said Wednesday that both governments are in a dispute with Alstom Power, which operates two facilities on Riverfront Parkway, because the plant didn’t achieve its promise to add 300 new jobs by Dec. 31, 2014.
Neither mayor would go into detail about the negotiations. But Berke said the governments are talking with Alstom about how much money the company should have to repay and whether to continue the agreement through its scheduled end date in 2026.
“We’ve communicated to Alstom that the failure to meet their obligations is unacceptable and there needs to be consequences to that failure,” Berke said at a news conference.
In 2008, Alstom entered a three-phase payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, or PILOT, with Chattanooga and Hamilton County for its $300 million expansion in Chattanooga. The PILOT required the Paris-based company to add 300 new jobs and make $265 million in capital investments. In return, the city and county waived the company’s property taxes, except for a small portion of the school tax. The waiver was for about 18 years.