Lockheed asks Cobb Development Authority for record $1.6B in bonds
CUMBERLAND — The Development Authority of Cobb County moved forward Tuesday on a bond deal worth up to $1.6 billion with Lockheed Martin which, if approved, would be the largest for a single project in the authority’s history.
“That’s ‘b,’ with a billion,” said authority Chairman Clark Hungerford, underscoring the point.
The agreement would make the funds available to Lockheed for the next 20 years as it bids on a variety of “next-generation” defense contracts. Rod Mclean, head of the firm’s Marietta plant, argued Lockheed needed the funds to bid for projects which he said could bring anywhere from 500 to 3,000 new jobs to Cobb.
“That’s why this incentive application is so important, because we’re competing against the Boeings and the Northrop Grummans who are doing very similar things,” Mclean told the board.
Authority board members voted 4-1 to approve an inducement resolution, an agreement which indicates the authority’s willingness to issue the bonds. Final approval could happen any time in the next 12 months, but the authority’s Executive Director Nelson Geter said he expected Lockheed to return in August in September.
Kennesaw State University economics professor J.C. Bradbury was the lone vote in opposition.
Unlike many past bond issuances, which have gone toward a single project or building, Lockheed’s bonds would be made available as a bucket for a series of potential contracts. Issuance of the bonds would be contingent on Lockheed earning those contracts; no win, no bonds.
Lockheed would then be eligible for tax breaks on the investments it makes to complete those contracts, which would be phased in over a 10-year period from when the bonds are issued.