Whenever Guilford County hands out incentives or grants to companies that are promising to bring jobs or pump capital into a project, the county commissioners usually point out that those claims will be checked later to make sure the company does what it promised.
Apparently, the State of North Carolina checks as well because this week the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is reducing the amount of state grant money the board is passing along to Koury Corp, which owns a building that was renovated for use by Guerrilla RF Inc.
The renovation effort created fewer jobs than planned, so Koury is getting less than initially expected.
Guerrilla RF, a wireless semiconductor company, and Koury Corp., were awarded a grant called a “Rural Building Reuse Grant” of $475,000 based on the companies’ plans to create 50 full-time jobs to renovate the building at 2000 Pisgah Church Road in Greensboro (owned by Koury Corporation), NC. Guerrilla RF, Inc.”
Back in September of last year, the Board of Commissioners approved the Reuse Grant and set aside $475,000 in state grant money to pass along to Koury if the Guerrilla RF project fulfilled expectations.
This week, however, the commissioners are reducing that grant amount to $249,500.
That came after the NC Dept. of Commerce informed the county that it had “documentation verifying that the Company has met a lower level of job creation with 31 of 50 new full-time jobs created thus qualifying for a payment of $294,500.00 to be disbursed to Koury Corporation.”
The Dept. of Commerce has verified that all the other grant requirements were met.
Last year, all parties involved agreed that Guilford County wouldn’t request the grant money from the state’s Department of Commerce until the grant requirements imposed on the Guerrilla RF project were satisfied and verified by the department.
How will the county spend the difference? We certainly can’t expect it to be saved, can we?
Corporate Welfare has gotten way out of hand. Keep the government out of business & let free enterprise dictate survival of the fittest.
I’m trying to understand why the state would be giving money under the “RURAL BUILDING REUSE GRANT to a building located in the 3rd largest city in the state!?!
I’ve had bad experiences with Kirkman & Koury in the past. Let’s just say I avoid them.
Wow, a blast from the past. That partnership ended over half a century ago in 1972.