It’s reassuring to see how well an incentives deal between the state and an international computer manufacturer can go.

Not.

WRAL.com reports:

Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL) officials said Tuesday that the company is entitled to keep the money saved through tax breaks the state offered to convince the computer maker to build an assembly plant in Winston-Salem.

Dell opened the plant in 2005 but announced in October that it would close the operation by January, laying off more than 900 workers, as it shifts assembly operations to lower-cost areas like Mexico.

State officials said they believe Dell also should give back about $6 million in tax breaks the company received between 2005 and 2007, but a Dell spokesman said the company is entitled to keep the money since it was operating at the time.

“Our belief and our understanding is that we met the performance thresholds required for those incentives during those years, and are not obliged to repay those,” spokesman Jess Blackburn said.

Gov. Beverly Perdue said Tuesday that the state deserves to get back “every red cent.”

“I will fight them if they want to fight about this,” Perdue said. “They made some agreements. We offered some incentives. The locals offered some incentives, and they need to live up to their side of the bargain. If that means going to court, I guess we will.”

Her aides later clarified her comments, conceding that, by law, Dell might be entitled to keep some of the tax breaks they earned while in business.