County courting 'one of most significant' economic projects

A company being courted by Buncombe County would be "one of the most significant economic development projects in the last several decades," County Commissioner Brownie Newman said Tuesday as he and fellow commissioners split down party lines over whether to buy property to help lure the business.

Officials have been mum over details of the potential deal, including the identity of the business. That comes at the request of the company, they said.

The partisan fight over the $6.8 million purchase of land that could serve as the company's site revealed more about the business — and doubts by some elected officials over the appropriateness of the arrangement.

Commissioners voted 4-3 during the regular meeting to buy the property in Bent Creek, now owned by Henderson County. Henderson and Asheville, which has a stake in the property as part of a decades-old arrangement, still have to officially approve the purchase.

Newman and other Democrats such as Board of Commissioners Chairman David Gantt said buying the property was necessary to even "stay in the game."

Should the company agree to come to Buncombe, Newman said it would provide "living wage jobs, jobs that would support middle-class families for decades to come," adding they would be "clean" jobs with little or no pollution.

Government incentive deals offer tax breaks or other things of value in exchange for the business providing investment that adds to the property tax base and jobs. Incentives aren't given until companies actually make the specified investment and provide an agreed upon number of jobs often at a certain pay rate, County Manager Wanda Greene said.

Such incentive arrangements have drawn companies such as Linamar, which invested more than $300 million and General Electric, which invested $125 million, Greene said.

"In the last five years, we've added 6,200 jobs and basically $1 billion worth of tax base," she said.

But Republican commissioners and some members of the public found fault with the hastily arranged deal and the idea of incentives in general.

Commissioner Mike Fryar said he was uncomfortable with the closed session last month in which commissioners gave Greene the go-ahead to work on the land deal with Henderson County. County Attorney Bob Deutsch said the affirmation was technically not a vote, something forbidden in closed sessions.

"This may be a good deal. This may be a great deal, but the whole thing was thrown together in a 15-minute process," Fryar said.

Commissioner Miranda DeBruhl pointed out that in past county-business arrangements, some kind of agreement had been hammered out before buying land. That was not the case this time.

Gantt, though, said that even if the company does not come, the land purchase is still a win. That is because another company is interested in buying the land outright. Also, because of its legal interest in the property, Asheville will get half the purchase price — $3.4 million. Proceeds of the property's sale must be used for public safety, according to a special state law. So, the city plans to give all that money back to Buncombe to build an indoor shooting range in Woodfin. Asheville police will then get access.

"We bring a shooting range that we talked about for 15 years closer to reality," Gantt said.