MEEKER COUNTY, MN – A marriage between private industry and public entities is culminating in a $5-million expansion project that will get underway next month at a manufacturing company in Litchfield, KDUZ reported.
The partnership will add 30,000 square feet of industrial space to Minnesota Rubber and Plastics and create at least 45 new jobs.
The Meeker County EDA was one of the matchmakers in the courtship that involved the state, city, and county offering financial incentives to entice Minnesota Rubber and Plastics to expand here rather than across the border.
According to KDUZ, company representatives are equally pleased with the partnership and acknowledge the expansion could’ve easily have gone to another one of their company locations - Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa, China, Mexico or France - without the attractive financial package that Minnesota, Meeker County, and the city of Litchfield offered.
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The government, even in the form of an EDA, cannot take money out of the economy through taxation and then give back with out having a net loss of economic activity. The jobs lost from taxation required to give the incentives exceeds the 45 jobs “created” by the expansion of one company.
Another problem is that the state of Minnesota contributed to the expansion which means that people in Baudette, Minn. helped pay for the expansion and but will never see any benefit from it.
This is not just or fair, and violates the liberties and freedoms our governments are created to protect. Dissolve the EDA, give the citizens of Litchfield, Meeker County and the state a tax cut.