“We needed the shot in the arm, and that’s why we were so aggressive at going after this project,” said Rick Benton, Roanoke Rapids’ economic development director about the city’s decision to give Randy Parton a lucrative contract for managing a music theatre with his name. At the time of the deal, no newspaper, not even the city’s local paper, knew the specifics of the deal. Now complete, the theatre sits waiting for business, as Carolina Journal‘s Don Carrington revealed the details of Randy’s deal. The state’s first Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) project, the Randy Parton Theatre, now serves as the perfect example of how this economic development tool is ripe for abuse. Searching eyes should now be focused on the Kannapolis deal, but they shouldn’t stop scrutinizing other government-sponsored deals, like the constitutionally challenged Dell incentives package. Lucky for us, Chad Adams and John Hood are keeping the story alive in the Winston-Salem Journal.
