by Jon Styf
More than $16 million in incentives are set to be approved for businesses, with the largest being $9 million for SK Food Group, when the Tennessee State Funding Board meets at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The FastTrack grants are for economic development or job training assistance.
SK Food Group plans to spend $205.2 million to build a 525,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for its mobile catering business, this time in Cleveland. The company supplies sandwiches, wraps, snacks, flatbreads, burgers and other protein snacks for branding by corporate customers. The company has promised 840 new jobs by 2030.
The incentives also include $2.75 million for In-N-Out Burger’s new regional office in Franklin, $1.5 million for Arrowhead Engineered Products in Portland, $1.5 million for Summertown Metals in Hohenwald, $! Million for Saxo International in Franklin and $536,000 for Tritium Technologies in Lebanon.
The Department of Economic and Community Development announces projects but does not reveal the incentives given to the company’s by the state at the time, instead posting the information within 30 days of an announcement.
FastTrack grants are state grants sent to local governments for specific infrastructure improvements or to companies to help offset the costs of expanding or moving into the state with the goal of increasing the number of full-time jobs and the average wages of jobs available in an area.
In this year’s proposed budget, Gov. Bill Lee has proposed adding $103 million next year to the TNECD for new business incentive grants along with supporting workforce training, marketing, and education. Even larger is the recommendation to add $340 million to the TNECD’s budget for the current fiscal year for new development incentives.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter for The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Gov. Bill Lee. Background Photo “SK Food Group” by SK Food Group.
This is absolutely crazy.
Bloated government begat wasteful spending.