Va. group hopes to delay vote on Amazon subsidies

An Arlington County board meeting about Amazon’s new second headquarters this Saturday is shaping up as a potentially decisive showdown between opponents of the project and board members who support it.

Support for the headquarters in Crystal City appears to be sufficiently strong enough on the five-member panel that the main group fighting the project concedes it cannot persuade the board to reject a proposed $23 million incentives package for the online retail giant. (Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

Instead, the “For Us, Not Amazon” coalition hopes to turn out enough critics to persuade the board to delay Saturday’s vote so additional meetings can be held to examine the proposal, its leaders said.

“What we’re expecting is community members to mobilize in big numbers, and to express concerns and ask questions,” said Danny Cendejas, an organizer with the coalition. “We hope they will delay this vote.”

Board Chairman Christian Dorsey, a Democrat, said he has “no interest” in postponing the vote and has heard no suggestions to do so from other board members. He expects the measure to pass, but he also said 100 to 400 speakers could show up for the public hearing before the vote.

The board vote affects a fraction of the total benefits that Amazon will receive, or could be eligible to receive, for picking Arlington as the site for its second North American headquarters and at least 25,000 jobs paying annual salaries of at least $150,000.

The Virginia General Assembly has approved up to $750 million in grants for Amazon — 32 times more than the proposed cash subsidies from Arlington — with minimal debate.

But the vote is politically significant because it appears to offer the only opportunity in the state for activists who oppose Amazon to try to block, or at least slow, the project. In addition to opposing taxpayer subsidies for a wealthy corporation, the critics are concerned that the influx of Amazon workers will displace low-income residents.

The generally positive response in Virginia has contrasted with that of New York, where opposition from grassroots activists and local politicians led Amazon to cancel plans to build a headquarters facility there.

Amazon declined to comment for this story.

Arlington board members have met with community groups in recent weeks to describe what they see as the project’s benefits. They say that even after accounting for the cost of the subsidy, the deal will generate net increased tax revenue for Arlington of $32 million a year.

Board member Erik Gutshall, a Democrat, told a meeting of the Arlington County Civic Federation on Tuesday that the project was “an overwhelming win” for the county. He said “a relatively small group of folks” oppose it.

Last week, critics sought to rally support by accusing county officials of not adequately informing the public that Amazon could be eligible for a county program that offers some technology companies a significant break on their annual business license taxes.

The potential tax benefit — and the county’s promotion of it in a marketing proposal used to lure Amazon to Arlington — were highlighted in an article published Wednesday on the local news website ARLnow.

The program allows for certain operations of technology companies to receive a reduction of up to 72 percent in the Business, Professional and Occupational License tax for up to 10 years. The break could save Amazon millions of dollars — an incentive that critics view as galling for a corporate behemoth that reportedly paid no federal taxes on $11.2 billion in profits last year.

Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, which tracks corporate subsidies, faulted Arlington for doing too little to publicize the potential incentive.

“This should have been announced on Day One,” LeRoy said.

Arlington County officials pushed back, saying Amazon was not receiving any special favors. They said the tax break is available to any qualified technology company.