It looks like some local officials in Guilford are showing at least a little backbone regarding the runaway train that is incentives for Dell Computers. Asked about the prospect of eliminating property and other taxes for the company and buying its land for development, Greensboro and Guilford politicians sounded cautious:
Both Greensboro Mayor Keith Holliday and outgoing Guilford commissioners’ chairman Robert Landreth said they had heard nothing specific from Dell. But both said they thought there would be no way that either government would pay for the 100 to 150 acres that Dell wants for a site.
“At $30,000 to $50,000 an acre, you’re talking about $4 million or $5 million,” Landreth said. Holliday said he could not see “taking money out of the General Fund to pay for land. We just couldn’t do that.”
Landreth said that if Dell insists on getting free land, it would have to be donated by a private citizen or foundation. “That’s the only way I could see that happening,” he said. Landreth also said he thought it would be tantamount to “raiding the county treasury” to allow Dell to pay no taxes for 25 years. “We have to get more out of this than just jobs,” Landreth said. “There’s a limit to what a corporation should get. They can blackmail you to death sometimes.”
Holliday said he couldn’t say what the City Council might do regarding a request from Dell to avoid taxes for many years. “Obviously, no taxes for 25 years is not our policy,” he said. “We must be good stewards of the taxpayers’ money.”
All too often, politicians have shown their backbones to be made of linguini on this issue. We’ll see whether the Guilford folks are made of stronger stuff or if the linguini just hasn?t been cooked yet.
