Fact: The $80+ million in tax breaks our county commissioners want to give
to FedEx (a billion-dollar company that recently spent over $200 million
to put their name on a stadium) would pay for two years tuition at Guilford
Technical Community College (GTCC) for 32,000 people who could be
trained for new jobs, including high-tech jobs and jobs in the health care
field where there is a current severe shortage of workers in our area.
Fact: Only a few short years ago Bryan Blvd. was expanded and repaved at
taxpayer expense. Now, to accommodate the proposed hub, our elected officials
want to spend $39,000,000+ of your tax dollars to move Bryan Blvd. This
shows a total lack of proper planning on the part of our elected officials
and a willingness to throw your money away.
Fact: Each home or property bought by the airport as part of the noise
mitigation process (as many as 2000 homes, not the 63 the proponants claim)
would be removed from the county tax rolls, further increasing the tax
burdon on those who remain. If you live in Guilford County, but aren't
close enough to feel the effects of the hub, do you still want your property
taxes to be increased to help pay for this?
Fact: Airport property, no matter what the usage, is exempt from paying Guilford
County Property Taxes., yet still receives full county services.
Fact: Each hub job, both part-time and full-time, will cost the taxpayers
over $143,000 each to create. While there will be a handful of jobs
paying over $30,000 a year, two thirds of the jobs created will be part-time
and pay less than $16,000 a year*. As for the "high paying" jobs that FedEx
will have, FedEx has already let it be known that these jobs will be filled
by existing employees from other hubs, not by local residents. There will
be no benefit to us from this.
Fact: "FedEx is exempted from adhering to low-bid contracting requirements,
thus ensuring that the company will be able to purchase specialized computer
and sorting equipment from its own out-of-state vendors." (Pg. 47; RTS report)
Fact: "Over ten years, we expect that $43 million dollars will be spent on
purchasing materials handling and ground support equipment from non-local
vendors." (Pg. 60; RTS report) - in other words, spent elsewhere and not
in our local area.
Fact: UPS has had a long-standing order to hire twenty-five new employees
a day for their Greensboro operations to replace a large turn-over of employees,
yet many positions go unfilled. If UPS can not find enough people to fill
these jobs, why would FedEx be any different? Indeed, the one sector
the proponents claim would benefit the most from these jobs would not
be eligible to work there because they do not have a high school diploma,
a requirement set forth by FedEx's own guidelines. When asked about this,
the proponents have either ignored the question or changed the subject.
Fact: The UPS hub in Louisville has cost taxpayers in excess of ONE BILLION
DOLLARS for buyouts and noise mitigation! Why would Greensboro be
any different?
*5 hours a night times 5 nights a week times 52 weeks a year = 1300 hours
a year. Multiply 1300 hours a year times $12 an hour (many FedEx part-time
jobs at other hubs pay less than $10.50 an hour) equals $15,600 a year, before
taxes and other deductions. Many part-time workers will have to work
a second or third job to feed their families.
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