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Offer to NCR included $13M in grants

Georgia promised regional business funds to lure firm.

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By Leon Stafford, Cox News Service 2:47 AM Friday, June 12, 2009

Georgia’s multimillion-dollar incentive package to lure NCR to the state included a $13 million grant to buy real estate, equipment and other assets, pushing the total value to well over $100 million.

In documents released to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the Georgia Open Records Act, the Georgia Department of Economic Development disclosed that it sweetened the pot to attract the Ohio-based company with money from the Regional Economic Business Assistance Program or REBA.

The agency said it agreed to give NCR a REBA grant of $8 million in 2009 through the Fayette County Development Authority, according to the documents. Georgia plans to recommend a $5 million grant later this month for 2010.

An official with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, which administers REBA, said the program is used to help “close the deal” when luring companies. It has existed for more than a decade and was used in dozens of prior deals, including one that helped draw a Kia Motors plant to West Point.

Brian Williamson, assistant commissioner for community affairs, said his department has received the request for the $8 million but has not been contacted about the $5 million.

Its inclusion in the state’s package to NCR brings the total incentives offered to $109 million, according to an AJC analysis. Georgia officials initially pegged the value of their state’s offer at $60 million.

Georgia officials announced June 2 that NCR, which makes cash registers, ATMs and airport check-in kiosks, will move its headquarters from Dayton to Duluth and open a new plant in Columbus, Ga. The moves will mean an additional 2,120 jobs for the state.

NCR had already announced a 900-job expansion at existing facilities in Duluth and in Peachtree City, which is in Fayette County.

The state-proposed incentives included a break on corporate tax bills and $15 million worth of training and research assistance. The bulk of the money will come to the company through Georgia’s Mega Jobs Tax Credit, which allows NCR to retain as much as $87 million in state payroll taxes.

State records show REBA grants have gone to both big and small companies in the past four years.

Notable recipients include Newell Rubbermaid, which got $650,000 in REBA funds; Hewlett-Packard, which got $750,000; and Toyo Tire North America, which got $1.3 million.

Kia Motors got a combined $46.6 million in REBA funds.

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