Statement of Doubt: The State should be putting in more - they should do their fair share.
Response: The State of North Carolina is considering making a significant investment in the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC). There are even federal efforts.
Here’s a partial list from the Q&A document on the TIF:
- University System: $29 Million this year - $580 Million over 20 years for operations at the NCRC. This site will be unique in that every major research university in the State will have a footprint on the NCRC campus.
- Department of Transportation: $11 Million for improvements to NC Hwy 3 and Greenway improvements
- Federal: $700,000 secured for utility improvements. The City of Kannapolis is pursuing an Economic Development Grant of $1,000,000. There was a $1,000,000 earmark for improvements to NC-3; but the priorities of the new Congress have apparently shifted from biotech projects for a mill town renaissance to Ewe Lamb Replacements.
What’s really amazing is that this project is so big that this doesn’t even make up the majority of it. Most of the NCRC will be privately funded - that sets it apart from other self-proclaimed bio-tech hubs and even the Research Triangle Park. The tax-increment financing (TIF) to be funded by the City and County will go towards infrastructure improvements germane to local governments - parks; roads; water, sewer, and other utilities. It will also limit the funding to the area within a defined district. Other people within the county will not being paying off the TIF - only the people within the TIF district will. TIF is the most prudent financing option available to meet the infrastructure needs of this project.
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1 response so far ↓
1 LiberalNC // Aug 3, 2007 at 12:22 am
Don’t forget to thank the NC Democrats for approving the state budget and getting the research campus all this money. Every single NC Republican voted against the budget, with the exception of our own Fletcher Hartsell. The other 2 Republican state representatives from Cabarrus County (Johnson and Barnhart) voted AGAINST the budget and thus against the money for the NCRC and against the money for the Rowan Community College to fund their biotech education. I hope the people from Kannapolis will remember who really supports the NCRC and who just proclaims they do.