It's our money. Why aren't we allowed to know the name of the company?
State and local governments are packaging up to $131 million in stimulus bonds for a top-secret industrial expansion code-named Project Cardinal.On Monday, Charlotte City Council will vote on the citys $44.5 million allocation to the unnamed company, which is promising up to 650 jobs and a potential of $148 million in capital investment over five years.
If approved, that would add to the $13.28 million in bonds granted last month by Mecklenburg County to lure the project. State officials are contemplating assigning more than $73 million in stimulus bonds to the deal, County Attorney Marvin Bethune says.
The bonds are available thanks to a $25 billion U.S. Department of Treasury program created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The $57.78 million in local combined Recovery Zone Facility Bonds come at no risk to the city or county. Instead, municipalities are assigned control over what businesses can have access to the bonds. The bonds are sold on the market, and the interest is exempt from federal income tax. The qualifying company must use the financing for construction or equipment in a designated recovery zone.
A formal announcement of the scope of development related to Project Cardinal is expected early next year.
Read the entire Charlotte Business Journal article, by Susan Stabley, here.
Follow Susan on Twitter. She usually live-tweets the city council meetings. The Charlotte City Council meetings also have their own hashtag: #cltcc. Of course, you could always attend the meetings yourself or watch on Channel 16 if you have Time Warner Cable.