With the stroke of a pen, Nestle moved 200 jobs over to Marysville when they closed the Dublin research facility.
The company recently made the decision to increase the size of the Collins Avenue facility that has been in this community for more than 100 years, and with that move it brings 200 more people paying income tax into the city coffers.
It was in 1917 that Nestle purchased the former Wildi Milk Co. and became an integral part of the industrial base of Marysville and Union County. In its 107-year existence here, it has remained located at the same site on the corner of Maple Street and Collins Avenue and has experienced a continual growth from day one.
The decision by the Swiss firm was made with less of a tax break incentive that has been offered to new businesses looking to locate in the community which leaves us wondering, what is our economic strategy? Is it to give away local dollars to prospective companies while the existing businesses pay for the growth?
We ask that because we agree with the city’s efforts to work with local companies that have a proven record of helping to pay for growth, like Nestle, who have been a community partner for such a long time.
The reason we bring this issue up is for the last 10-plus years, the city under the direction of Economic Development Director Eric Phillips promised to bring in more jobs by developing the Innovation Park along Industrial Parkway.
Instead, what has transpired has been tax dollars dumped into something that looks more like a mass of empty buildings leaving empty promises and questionable returns on the municipal investment and with very little jobs to boot.
Our question is, at what point does the city start to drill down on how the money is being spent in the concrete jungle and say enough is enough? The point here is, what measure can city officials put their finger on to determine if all these tax breaks being given to new businesses have actually benefited the area?