03/28/2024
Spread the love

By Erin Smith

The Bladen County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to consider a five-year incentive grant worth $4.6 million for Smithfield Farmland Corporation at their meeting on Tuesday.  The board is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m. in the Commissioner’s meeting room in the basement of the Bladen County Courthouse.  You can read the proposed incentive plan here.

Smithfield announced a planned expansion in August that will see the plant grow by about 500,000 square feet. The new investment is valued at $100 million and could mean the creation of 270 new, permanent positions and will include the installation of new equipment and machinery. The jobs are expected to pay no less than $14 per hour.

According to the proposal, the incentive grant will be paid in installments at a rate of 0.574 percent of the new investment for the given tax year minus the assessed value of any Equipment taken out of service as a result of the expansion project. The proposal reads, “the total grant award shall not exceed an amount equal to 70% of the taxes paid by company on the new taxable investment in the given tax year.” The proposal states the grant period will begin on January 1, 2018 and specifies payments are to be made to the company by “March 15th of the year following each year of grant eligibility.”

About Author