$764 Million: Local Price Tag To Lure Foxconn To Racine County

RACINE COUNTY, WI — Racine County officials revealed the price tag to lure the world's largest electronics manufacturer to their doorstep - and pledged the investment wouldn't raise taxes on county residents.

On Wednesday, County officials revealed that Racine's incentive package to lure Foxconn was approximately $764 million - a figure as staggering as the overall size of the project.

According to Racine County figures, that breaks down to the following uses:

• $168 million for property acquisition
• $175 million to finance the package
• $160 million for water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades
• $116 million for public safety and police upgrades
• $100 million in Tax Incremental District Financing
• $28 million held in contingency
• $12 million for road upgrades
• $5 million for fiber optic lines

And for all that, Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave said there will be no tax increases for county residents by way of a tax increment district to fund the project. By establishing a TID, a City or Village is able to capture the property tax revenue from new development inside the TID to pay for public improvements in and around the TID.

Cities and Villages establish a TID to invest public funds to grow the tax base of its community, encourage private investment and facilitate new job creation. In this case, taxes otherwise sent to Mount Pleasant will be diverted to fund the development of the overall Foxconn project.

County estimates that once the Foxconn TID closes, there will be $31 million in new tax revenue per year for the village.

“The costs that are necessary are all paid for by the property taxes the company pays as a result of its development,” said Jenny Trick, the executive director of the Racine County Economic Development Corp., according to media reports.

According to a Journal Times report Wednesday, the first step in paying for the package will be a $55.2 million bond issue by Racine County for land acquisition.

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