The News & Observer delved into the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center and found the group’s claims about job creation simply don’t add up.
The center’s jobs claim to the legislature included projects that have already fallen apart, such as 20 jobs at Hallelujah Acres in Shelby, west of Charlotte, which got a $150,000 grant for a sewer line so it could move across the street. It has now moved to Gastonia.
In Rocky Mount, a Subway was supposed to create five jobs after a $96,000 grant to spark it and a neighboring business. The restaurant has closed.
The Rural Center told lawmakers it had created 50 jobs with a watermelon distribution facility in Carteret County. It was never built. A total of $300,000 in state money was earmarked for the project from early 2008 until May 22, when the center says it defunded the project. That came days after the state suspended the melon association’s charter for failing to pay taxes.
Moral of the story: be wary of job creation claims. Groups that receive public money find all sorts of ways to claim success in order to keep the money rolling in. Carolina Journal has reported on several of them, including this one.
