Details of state incentives for Boeing might stay under wraps for a year

CHARLESTON -- Politicians and other state officials privately crafted a $450 million incentive deal to land Boeing Co. on the promise of thousands of jobs and a multibillion-dollar economic impact, but the details of that deal could be kept from public view for the next year.

The largest incentive package ever offered in the state will be kept under wraps to give the state Department of Commerce and company executives time to sort out the details. State law allows those agreements to remain confidential until they're finalized, which could take up to a year.

Ashley Landess, president of the South Carolina Policy Council, a Columbia-based political think tank, said back-room government deals aren't in anyone's best interest.

"There is something fundamentally wrong in a system in which politicians shut the door when making decisions about (taxpayer money) and refuse to tell them what they are," she said.

An arm of the state Budget and Control Board estimates that Boeing's new 787 aircraft assembly line, which calls for at least 3,800 workers, not counting spin-off jobs from suppliers, will create a $10 billion economic impact during the next 15 years.

But without a breakdown of the exact tax breaks and incentives, it's impossible for outsiders to figure the real cost-benefit analysis of the deal, according to the Policy Council.

Those details, Landess said, could reveal faulty assumptions in the state's analysis used to justify the multimillion-dollar tax breaks.

That $10 billion economic impact, for example, takes into account spending from Boeing's future 3,800 workers, Landess said. But if the plant's workers already live in the region and spend money at local grocery stores and movie theaters, she asked, how much additional sales tax revenue is generated?

Commerce spokeswoman Kara Borie said the one-year time frame gives companies an opportunity to amend the agreements before they are made public. Company officials, for example, might need to secure financing during that time or ramp up production to take advantage of certain performance-based breaks.

Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger said, "We're leaving it to the state to discuss the details ... at the appropriate time."

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Bonneau, who is running for governor, said releasing incentive details before the agreements are finalized could jeopardize the state's negotiations with other companies, which could ask for a better deal after seeing what another business got.

"I think the public has a right to know every detail of the incentives package, but you also don't want to give other states an unfair competitive advantage of knowing what the state is doing at this particular time," Grooms said.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, disagreed with the state policy, saying state officials should immediately release incentive details that aren't proprietary.