codyg1985’s Think Tank

According to this Daily Mountain Eagle article, the Jasper City Council has pledged $1 million in incentives to attract an undisclosed company to build a manufacturing plant in northwest Alabama. The plant could employ at least 1000 people. The site being considered is not very far outside Walker County. The following quote from the article leads me to believe the site is located close to Winfield, AL:

“In recruiting this project, the demographics of the city – the school system, the parks, housing, quality of life issues, the hospital – have all been considered,” Posey said. “The only other community that offered any input was 66 miles away in the other direction. We’re much closer to this project, so we feel like we have the most to gain.”

Guess which city lies approximately 60 miles to the west of Winfield? Tupelo, MS, which is roughly twice the population of Jasper, and has more amenities than Jasper does, and no other city close to Winfield (or Jasper for that matter) fits that description. Not only does Winfield fit in the previous description in terms of its proximity to Tupelo and Jasper, but any potential site is located right off of future Interstate 22, which means that from Jasper any site in northwest Alabama would be easiest to get to from Interstate 22. Any other site in any other county, such as Winston, Fayette, or Lamar, would be far away from Walker County, and it would certainly not be as easy to access from Jasper as a site off I-22 in Marion County.

If Jasper is committing $1 million towards this potential company locating to a neighboring county, then it begs the question: why doesn’t Jasper try and attract a company of equal or larger magnitude to Walker County? There is a larger labor pool, and it is closer to Birmingham and an even larger labor pool. Moreover, a site in Walker County would be closer to an inland water port in Cordova or Port Birmingham. It is great and excellent that the communities of northwest Alabama are working together to attract a major industry. The net tax benefit from this employer locating to a neighboring county must be huge for the city of Jasper to be committing such a large sum of money to attracting the employer.