North Carolina Looks to Incentive Re-Haul

The North Carolina Economic Developers Association believes the State of NC should do more to incent economic development projects, especially after coming up short on the Boeing plant deal and missing a few others that chose to go elsewhere.

In the last 10 years, there has been a dramatic change in the way the state lures companies with incentives. The William S. Lee Act, approved in 1996, divided the state's counties into tiers, encouraging businesses to build in rural areas.

In 2003, in an effort to lure the bigger industrial prizes that were choosing South Carolina and Georgia, the state copied an SC incentives plan that rebates much of employees' state wage withholdings during the first years of a new company's operations

This may be one to watch. Money is still tight in most state budgets, but the economy is picking up steam and there will be more deals out there to chase. Some might not like to hear this, but incentives are going to grow in importance in 2004, especially as more companies turn to offshore suppliers to do business.

Go here to read more.