Huntsville and Madison Co. will buy former Chrysler plant for $10.5M, let Remington use it rent-free
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – The City of Huntsville and Madison County are giving Remington free use of the former Chrysler electronics plant where Remington plans to begin manufacturing firearms in 2015.
The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a development agreement that calls for Huntsville to provide Remington with incentives worth $9.5 million. That money, which will come from the city's capital improvement fund, will help buy the vacant 843,000-square-foot factory and also provide Remington with cash to begin equipping the sprawling facility near the airport.
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The Madison County Commission is scheduled to meet Tuesday to consider contributing $3 million toward the factory and equipment purchases.
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The development deal OK'd Monday also says Huntsville's Industrial Development Board will pay Remington $500,000 each time the company hits a key employment milestone. The four installments totaling $2 million are due when Remington reaches 250, 500, 750 and 1,000 jobs created in Huntsville.
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Meanwhile, the state has agreed to provide Remington – America's oldest and perhaps best known gun maker – with $38.3 million in cash to help retrofit and equip the Chrysler plant. Additionally, the state has pledged long-term workforce recruitment and training valued at nearly $16 million and will abate the non-education portion of Remington's property, sales and use taxes for the next decade.
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more: http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/huntsville_and_madison_county.html
ETA: HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said Remington Arms intends to spend about $110 million turning the vacant former Chrysler electronics plant near Huntsville International Airport into a state-of-the-art firearms production facility that could open in early 2015.
Here's a quick look at what incentives the state, the cities of Huntsville and Athens, plus Madison, Limestone and Morgan counties have agreed to kick in to land the more than 2,000 jobs associated with Remington's first gun plant in the Southeastern U.S.
The total investment by state and local governments is $68.9 million:
http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/alabamas_incentive_offer_to_re.html
Nothing too good for the job creators in AL, it seems --$34,450 for each purported job to be created. No wonder they kept it secret !
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Last edited Tue Feb 18, 2014, 05:41 AM - Edit history (1)
Chrysler once employed more than 3,000 people in Huntsville. They spun off
their Huntsvile operations just before the recession hit and it wound up in the hands of Continental AG. Continental then busted the UAW local 1413 in 2009 at the bottom of the recession, shutting the entire operation down and sending the remaining jobs elsewhere. That union hall is today occupied by a private business. The UAW no longer exists in the region.
Local government did nothing to intervene to try and save the union jobs for the sake of the community at large. They sat idly by and watched it all go down in flames. Five years later, they're now paying mountains of tax money to the union-busting owners of the vacant plant in order to transfer the property into the hands of an employer which will almost certainly operate with no union presence. It's now being championed locally as one of the greatest achievements of state and local civic leaders. Union-busters WIN!!!
This is how union-busting works on the down-low.
Welcome to my world. I'm a native of Huntsville. 
