The board’s chairwoman, Commissioner Linda Shaw, was the deciding vote, breaking ranks with fellow Republican Commissioners Bill Bencini, Jeff Phillips, Hank Henning and Alan Branson, who all voted no.
“I’m a Republican and a conservative Republican,” Shaw said. “But when I ran, I ran saying I would do what I could to get jobs in Guilford County.”
She called the incentives a good investment in job creation.
Her fellow Republicans disagreed, arguing that the board should reduce the overall county tax rate to attract business rather than offer incentives.
Phillips argued that lower taxes would help Procter & Gamble more than the proposed incentives.
Note Commissioner Ray Trapp’s comment that the incentives were a ‘no-brainer,’ that P&G had him when they said ‘hello.’ And people wonder why governments run deficits.
