Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (607004)	4/7/2011 3:17:07 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580148

This happens all the frigging time. I don't even have to search for them online....that's how often they happen. Typically, a corp makes all these promises and then ends up reneging because your FREE markets dictate otherwise. Its a sham that hurts the taxpayer and the people who were working at the facility. Gannett shutters call center in Tulsa 22 minutes ago Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. Inc. collected nearly $260,000 in rebates from Oklahoma's Quality Jobs program for a call center in Tulsa that it shuttered last week, less than five years after it opened. The state of Oklahoma paid the media giant for 10 quarterly claims covering the third quarter of 2007 through the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission. The total amount paid was $259,786.83, according to the commission. Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, did not have any provision in its Quality Jobs contract that would have made the company pay anything back if it left the state, said Paula Ross, a spokeswoman for the commission. Ross said it's rare to have a retention clause built into the program. The Tulsa call center closed March 31. It opened in 2007 and at its peak, employed about 165 workers _ most of them part-time, said Robin Pence, a Gannett spokeswoman. Pence declined to comment on the incentives the company received for the call center. Under Oklahoma's Quality Jobs program, qualifying enrolled companies can earn quarterly cash rebates of up to 5 percent of taxable wages for up to 10 years. New legislation in 2005 allows companies in the program who expand again to receive up to 6 percent in wage rebates based on meeting certain criteria. Jonna Kirschner, the deputy director and general counsel for Oklahoma's Department of Commerce, said Gannett and other companies that are new to Oklahoma have to meet certain goals within the first three years to reap rebates for the following seven. Specifically, a company has to meet a $2.5 million annual payroll for four consecutive quarters within the first three years it is in the program in order to continue. The company also has to meet an average wage, the lesser of the average county wage where the company is located or an indexed state wage _ for Gannett it was $27,393 _ and provide health insurance for employees to be eligible. "Creating one job in the Quality Jobs program is equivalent to creating at least four jobs in the state," Kirschner said. Gannett, which publishes USA Today and dozens of other newspapers, said the work from the Tulsa call center would be moved to locations in cities such as Greenville, S.C. and Louisville, Ky., updated with new technology. Like many media companies in recent years, McLean, Va.-based Gannett has struggled to keep customers, many who have been drawn away from traditional forms of media delivery with the expansion of the Internet. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed