Arkansas official says his state can't match Wisconsin's $100M tax incentive package for Kimberly-Clark

Molly Beck | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Wisconsin lawmakers' proposal to provide $100 million in tax incentives to preserve 610 jobs at two Kimberly-Clark plants is "unprecedented," said an Arkansas official working to keep the papermaker's plant open in his state.

Officials from Wisconsin and Arkansas are each trying to persuade Kimberly-Clark to keep a few hundred jobs in their states as the company cuts thousands of jobs nationwide — and one state's success may depend on the other's failure.

Mike Preston, director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said Thursday he remains intent on keeping about 350 jobs in a plant there, but signaled he expects to lose a bidding war with Wisconsin given the proposed incentive package's "unprecedented" scope.

“Indications are that the Kimberly-Clark plant in Conway (Arkansas) will close, based on word from employees and vendors, but Arkansas is still aggressively working to keep those jobs in-state," Preston said. "The Wisconsin package is setting a new bar for retention that is unprecedented in economic development for already-existing jobs. We want to keep the 350 jobs but have a fiduciary responsibility to three million taxpayers.”

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Two mills in Wisconsin's Fox Valley are slated for closure in the future under a restructuring plan Kimberly-Clark announced in January that aims to shed up to 5,500 employees and close or sell 10 plants.

Union members at one plant approved a tentative bargaining agreement with the company last week that could keep the plant open as long as it's paired with state tax incentives.

The state Assembly passed the $100-million package in February, but some Republicans in the Senate are not on board, and the issue comes at a time when the state and local tax incentives provided to Foxconn are under scrutiny as Gov. Scott Walker runs for a third term.

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans met to discuss the package, but it's unknown whether the deliberations moved the package forward.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and a spokeswoman for Walker did not respond to questions about the package's future.

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Under the bill, Kimberly-Clark must keep both Wisconsin plants open to get $101 million to $117 million in wage incentives over 15 years, 15 percent of the cost of factory upgrades and sales tax waivers on equipment upgrades.

Brandi Hinkle, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the company told state officials three weeks ago the company would decide in 30 days whether to close a Wisconsin a facility or the one in her state.