Agenda - 06-03-2008-5b5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 Note: No reliable data exists that compares wage rates at independent and chain retail businesses. Compensation is probably fairly similar for many of both kinds `~ of stores. But, while corporate chains must msxim;~e returns to shareholders, independent business owners may be guided by other considerations. Some have opted to pay living wages and provide healthcare and other benefits. Even when a new big box store does create a small gain in employment, these added jobs often do not offset the costs of such things as chronic downtown vacancies and loss of local character. A study in North Elba, New York, for example, found that 68% of a new Wal- Mart's sales would be captured from the town's existing businesses. While 112 jobs would be lost as local stores downsized or closed, Wal-Mart would create 134 jobs. Nevertheless, the Planning Board rejected the development, noting, The project will likely result in a large amount of impacted retail space, over 20,000 square feet of which could become chronically vacant. These potential impacts would have a significant. unmitigatable adverse impact on the character and culture of the community by resulting in vacant .storefronts, a loss of'critical mass' in existing downtown areas, and an adverse psychological, visual and economic climate."(14) Big-box stores, strip shopping-centers, and fast-food outlets also cost more in public monies for services than they produce in tax revenues: They use more undeveloped land than. local businesses concentrated in town centers, which- also requires expensive road and service extension over greater distances. The polluted runoff from their parking lots is placing anever-greater burden'on the nation's rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. E. The high cost of incentives In Going Local, economist Michael. Shuman (1998) notes that in 1997 alone more than 40 states offered over 30 billion dollars in property tax abatements, loans for machinery and equipment, state revenue bond financing, accelerated depreciation, and special funds as incentives to help cities lure in multinational corporations. ® A national survey by Good Jobs First in 2004 looked at 160 Wa1-Mart stores and all of the company's distribution centers-and found that more than 90% of them have been subsidized. Altogether, 244 subsidized facilities in 35 states received taxpayer deals of more than $1 billion. (Greg LeRoy, The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation. Nov. 9, 2005, See Alternet.org) ® Local, national and even global competition for big corporations has become _ intense under the big-game system. Consequently, as Shuman puts it: Multinationals have become increasingly adept at pitting locales against ane another in their bribery attempts. For example...in 1986, Indiana paid $50,000 per job to convince Subaru to open a factory in Lafayette. By the 19906, Alabama was agreeing to pay between $150,000 and $200,000 per job