A Better Mt. Pleasant: https://www.facebook.com/abettermtpleasant/ While the story in today's JT about the guy who scored the first Foxconn license plate is awfully cute, this one is perhaps a bit more relevant to people in our community. (Again, JT Publisher Mark Lewis sits on the boards of both RAMAC and RCEDC - not exactly well positioned to be the least bit critical of the deal.) How many times were we told 13,000 jobs with an average salary of $53k per year? So many times, it HAS to be true, right? A couple things to know: 1. The state originally wanted to cap the salaries to be averaged at $100,000. Foxconn wanted no cap at all - all salaries would get averaged. The state offered $200,000, and then $250,000, and ultimately caved at $400,000. The high paying jobs skew the average - a lot. With a $100,000 cap to average - Foxconn could pay 65% of its workers $30,000 per year and still make its average salary commitment. A $400,00 cap to average means Foxconn can pay 93% of its workers $30,000 per year and still make its average salary commitment. A living wage for a family of 3 in Wisconsin is $59,675. 2. The legendary 13,000 jobs? Well, that's a potential number - as in some day they may hire up to 13,000 people. As for the initial 3,000 jobs - the expected 500 employees in Milwaukee and 200 employees in Green Bay count towards that number. Mt. Pleasant is down to 2,300 jobs, but still on the hook for a $860 million TID. 2,300 is a fine number, however Amazon employs 3,000 full time and 5000 part time workers - when they can find them - and it didn't cost us a dime. 3. Mt. Pleasant is scheduled to go back for another round of borrowing. No worries, this time will only be for around $20 million. https://www.biztimes.com/2018/ideas/government-politics/foxconn-sought-flexibility-in-meeting-average-wage-target/
Embrace the SUCK!
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