WEDC waits on Foxconn deal

Wisconsin official declines to put timeline on decision

WAUWATOSA – The leadership team of Wisconsin’s jobs agency met Thursday to consider up to $3 billion in taxpayer incentives to bring a Foxconn flat screen plant and thousands of jobs to Racine County.

The board of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. considered the state subsidies for Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan in a private session but took no action, with officials saying they are still working on the final deal.

“It’s critical that we take whatever time is required to get it right, both for the state and for Foxconn, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” WEDC Chief Executive Officer Mark Hogan said.

Under the state’s agreement in principle with Foxconn, the two parties have until Sept. 30 to work out a final contract.

But on Thursday, Hogan said the deadline was no longer an issue for either side.

“I don’t think about it; the company does not think about it,” Hogan said, saying that the state and the company are now both focused on making sure the agreement is done correctly.

It’s typical for the WEDC to discuss and vote on such deals in private because often they involve competition with other states and still-undisclosed offers by Wisconsin to beat out those states and land new companies and jobs. In those cases, revealing the deals would put Wisconsin in a worse competitive position.

In this case, however, the agreement in principle with Foxconn has been public since since it was announced by President Donald Trump, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Foxconn chairman Terry Gou at the White House on July 27.

WEDC officials this week

declined a request made by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to hold the Thursday meeting in open session since the deal has been revealed and other states already know what Wisconsin is offering to Foxconn.

When the WEDC board does vote privately on the contract, however, the agency will still need to disclose that vote to the public afterward.

Walker signed legislation authorizing the Foxconn deal on Sept. 17 at Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, clearing the way for the company and the governor’s administration to negotiate and sign a final contract.

The contract needs the approval of the WEDC board before the deal — and the factory — can move forward.

Foxconn also will have to strike a separate deal with local officials in Racine County — it’s still unknown how much property-tax payers there will have to spend to provide the infrastructure and services needed for the plant.

The state deal being considered by the WEDC would pay up to $2.85 billion in cash to the company over 15 years to offset 17% of its qualifying payroll costs as well as 15% of the capital costs of constructing an up to $10 billion factory that could employ as many as 13,000 people.

It would also exempt the company from some state environmental rules and speed up the appeals process for litigation over the project in state courts.

Hogan declined to put a timeline on a decision. He reiterated that both the state and Foxconn will “take whatever time is required to get it right,” and he expressed satisfaction with the progress to date.

“I feel good about where we are relative to continuing the conversations,” he said.