At the last Greensboro City Council meeting, Councilman "flask in his pocket" Zack Matheny remarked "the city never lost a business because of the tax rate."
Earlier that same day the News & Record announced the opening of the Sheetz supply center in Burlington.
Why Burlington and not Greensboro? Could it be because Burlington has better Interstate access? Burlington has a single Interstate highway flowing through it. Greensboro has what-- four? Five? Nope, that couldn't be the reason.
Was because of Burlington's better airport? Yeah, right.
Trains? Nope, despite Burlington history of having been founded as a railroad town, Burlington only has east-west railroad access. Greensboro has north, south, east and west.
Was it Burlington's closer proximity to the Greensboro tank farm where Sheetz and every other fuel provider this side of Roanoke, Virginia refill their tankers? ROTFLMAO!!!
So why did Burlington get 254 jobs Greensboro missed when Greensboro is obviously the better choice? In part the answer is the Incentive package but might there be more to it? Why did Sheetz pick Alamance County when any county in the Piedmont Triad would have given them the same incentive package had they asked?
You see, unlike say a financial company call center or a manufacturer who is subject to move jobs to the cheapest labor market at the drop of a hat, a Sheetz distribution center is a long term investment that is here to stay as long as Sheetz is able to continue to operate stores in the area. Fuel costs dictate that Sheetz cannot ship everything from its Pennsylvania headquarters and continue to stay in business, much less grow. Unlike Zack Matheny whose business is built entirely on the public dole, the Sheetz family must plan long term to remain in business.
Might there be things to it like Sheetz's executives looking at taxes and realizing higher wages would have to be paid in cities with higher taxes to hire and retain good help? Could it be that the Sheetz family understands the average 5-7 cents per gallon more that Greensboro residents pay for gasoline over Burlington residents will have to be reflected in employee paychecks? Might it be the Sheetz family understands that after the incentives run out they will be faced with higher taxes in Greensboro than in Burlington. For example: a business privilege license in Greensboro is 10 times the cost of a business privilege license in Burlington.
How do I know? I've bought both Greensboro and Burlington privilege licenses. That's how I know.
