The Chattanooga City Council approved a $6 million settlement with Alstom Tuesday to refund tax breaks the city and Hamilton County had granted the company for job creation after the firm announced it was instead laying off all of its workers.
The city had granted Alstom’s Riverfront Parkway steam turbine manufacturing plant the tax breaks in a 2008 agreement. But Alstom failed to reach hiring and expansion goals set out in the deal, and GE closed the plant late last year after purchasing it in 2015.
Under the settlement, the city and county’s legal bills will be paid, the city will receive $3.5 million and the county $2.5 million, city attorney Wade Hinton said.
While the city had initially asked for $13 million, Hinton argued that the lower number was a good deal given the uncertainty about the outcome of a lawsuit. He also said it was in the city’s interest to allow General Electric to move forward in either putting something else on the property or selling it to another company that might bring jobs to the city. GE will also resume paying full taxes on the property as of last November, Hinton said.
The settlement was approved by a 6-2 vote, with council members Larry Grohn and Ken Smith voting no.