"All economic incentive requests are thoroughly reviewed by staff and a strategic formula is used to determine the level of inventive that can be offered by the city." --Nancy Vaughan, Greensboro News & Record print edition, Sunday, Dec 29, 2013
Please send me the strategic formula Mayor Vaughan is referring to.
Thank you -Billy Jones"
That, my friends, is the content of the public information request (PIRT) I e-mailed Greensboro City Staff just yesterday, December, 31, 2013. Their confirmation reads as follows:
"inforequests@greensboro-nc.gov
Your public information request for documents related to Economic Incentive Strategic Formula have been referred to the proper department for response. Thank you for your request.
If you have any questions, please call 373-CITY (2489) or at the above email address and reference request number 3135."
Like myself, I'm sure a lot of you will be waiting to know just what that strategic formula is. Who wants to take bets on how long it takes staff to make up a formula? Who wants to bet there isn't such a formula? Or who wants to bet that some incentives requests are routed around city staff going straight to city council? Other times incentives get routed around Council. Why don't we begin with a recent City of Greensboro payout to developer, Roy Carroll:
"In my view, what happened with the $19 million was an incentive for Roy Carroll's AMEX data center that didn't come with the publicly reported deal.
American Express had eliminated about 1,600 Greensboro employees at their call center.
Robbie said there would be no incentive package.
Next thing anyone knew, the water sewer infrastructure leading to the American Express site was allocated from the trust fund for Roy's property which now has the data center.
Maybe the biggest incentives aren't called incentives."
Former Mayor Robbie Perkins ran that incentive deal to Roy Carroll right around City Council calling it something else altogether. So you're saying, Nancy had nothing to do with it, how can I blame her now?
The answer: Nancy Baracat Vaughan, along with the rest of the Greensboro City Council, was witness to this and did nothing to stop it:
As a matter of fact: then Councilwoman Nancy Baracat Vaughan, along with the rest of council, voted in-favor of extending water and sewer into the far reaches of Eastern Guilford County and to an industrial park then being built by billionaire developer, Roy Carroll.
Since that date the subject has come up many times at City Council meetings but Nancy Vaughan has neither acted nor spoke of the matter-- not once. As I've pointed out in the past, lies of omission are more the style of Nancy Baracat Vaughan.
No, they didn't call it incentives but only the developers like Mr Carroll were asking for city water and sewer.
Someone might want to do a welfare check on Mayor Vaughan to make sure she hasn't hurt herself with these large doses of truth.
Continue reading Incentives In Greensboro Part 5
