Try not to do a double-take at this headline: Company lied for tax incentives.
That is a very bold statement by The Enquirer Journal but one that is entirely supported by the facts. Wish that other news outlets were so plain spoken. The details:
Perfect Fit Inc. LLC received more than $50,000 in combined tax incentives from Monroe and Union County. Company executives told both governments that it wanted to consolidate business and would close either the facility in the Sutton Park area, or one in Loogootee, Ind.
In reality, the company already decided to close the Indiana plant, but still portrayed the situation as an open competition.
“The decision as to which facility is closed rests in large part on the partnership that we can form with the respective governments here and in Indiana,” Monroe facility production manager Steve Dickens told the Union County Board of Commissioners Monday. “In this case with Union County and Monroe.”
The Monroe City Council approved Perfect Fit a $31,740 tax incentive Aug. 17 and county commissioners approved a $19,557 grant Monday.
Trouble is Perfect Fit decided to close the Indiana plant back on August 6th, if not before:
In a Aug. 6 notice, Perfect Fit director of human resources Dexter Royal alerted the Indiana workforce development board it would close the Loogootee, Ind. plant.
“This is to inform you that the Perfect Fit Industries Facility located at 101 West Washington Street, Loogootee, IN 47553 will permanently terminate all of its operations,” Royal wrote in the letter. “It is anticipated that 95 employees of Perfect Fit Industries will experience a permanent loss of employment.”
After the announcement, local workers believed the plant would close. In a story after the WARN notice announcement, The Loogootee Tribune attributes Loogootee, Ind., plant manager Marlin Courtwright as telling the town mayor that the plant would close.
So. Union County and Monroe officials are going to ask for their money back and maybe call the law on what is surely some fishy misrepresentation for financial gain, right? Here’s where the moron part kicks in.
No. In fact, government staff see nothing wrong with lying for government cash:
In Monroe, Chris Platé and Ron Mahle with the city’s economic development department worked on the incentive grant. Both said they did not know of the Aug. 6 WARN notice at the Aug. 17 council meeting.
“I’m kind of stunned,” Platé said. “We got pretty honest feelings that we were in very strong competition” with Loogootee, Ind.
Still, Platé said he would do the deal again if it meant an industry expansion and more jobs.
“Knowing what we know now, it would not have changed the staff’s position to take it to the council,” he said. “We stand behind our decision and still hope to win the company.”
Michael Trotter, a staffer who flogged the deal for the Union County Partnership for Progress, ducked the paper’s questions about the deal. But you can bet he had no idea that this “competition” for jobs was rigged. And that he still thinks it is great idea.
How do average taxpayers stand a chance in this kind of environment? When absolutely no one in the government they fund — elected or appointed — is looking out for them? A fraud has been committed in plain sight in Union County. Will anyone who has taken a solemn oath of office do anything about it?
