Wisconsin governor says keeping Mercury Marine jobs could cost $70M

By ASSOCIATED PRESS - 11/6/2009


FOND DU LAC, Wis.— Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle says dissuading outboard-engine maker Mercury Marine Inc. from moving its Fond du Lac operations to Oklahoma could cost Badger State taxpayers $70 million.

That's in addition to a $50 million loan funded by Fond du Lac County sales tax and $3 million from the City of Fond du Lac.

In return, the outboard-engine maker is expected to retain several thousand jobs in the Fox Valley.

Last summer, Wisconsin and Oklahoma were engaged in a bidding war for Mercury's factories. Last-minute union concessions and proposed government aid persuaded the company to remain in Fond du Lac.

Doyle says the $70 million in state assistance comes mostly in the form of refundable tax credits. He says the company won't get the full amount if it does not retain 2,700 jobs.



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Tulsa World Reader Comments
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Daven, Tulsa (11/6/2009 3:35:20 PM)
Wow. 123mil for 2700 jobs.

Mar, Tulsa (11/6/2009 3:39:47 PM)
Ok, Wisconsin wins, they can keep the company. :-) What do you bet within 3 years Mercury is looking to move somewhere else again.

Popeye, T-Town (11/6/2009 3:31:55 PM)
Good! Maybe they can contact the fed and have them direct Scamulus dollars toward this. More "jobs saved"!! LOL

LocalBoy, B.A. (11/6/2009 3:33:04 PM)
That is over 7% of the total market value of Brunswick, the parent company of Mercury Marine. It's almost $26,000 per job to buy their agreement to stay put. I think for $70 million, there are entire companies that could be bought that employ more than 2700 people. And that's ignoring the additional loan money. Having that much invested in them, the state will be hard-pressed to turn them down when they come looking for more handouts. I don't think we need them that badly.

007, Tulsa (11/6/2009 7:08:27 PM)
well at least not their talking about moving the jobs to china or mexico.....who cares if it's here or wisconsin!

Bville, (11/6/2009 4:11:12 PM)
Daven is right. Isn't that something like $45,000 per job? 10 to 1 the Guv is a big Dem who went to Harvard...like all the others.

Aggie, (11/6/2009 9:56:19 PM)
How did taxpayers allow themselves to be conned into thinking politicians can create growth and prosperity? Every town, county, city, and state is spending massive amounts of OUR money on what they call "economic development". It is a colossal waste of resources. It is no coincidence that the state that spends the most on economic develpment schemes (MI) is also one of the most economically depressed. Money that is used by government to promote whatever nutty plan they think is development is money that is lost to real productive use in the private sector. It is time to get government out of the business of planning and job creation. Government cannot create anything. It can only take from one and give to another, taking a huge cut for the politicians and bureaucrats. Government attempts to create jobs and wealth only lead to big losses of both.



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