Volvo narrows search to S.C., one other state

South Carolina is one of two states that Volvo is considering for a $500 million auto plant that would employ up to 4,000.

“For quite some time, I’ve been under the impression that Volvo has Berkeley County under consideration,” state Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston, said Friday, confirming a report by Reuters news service. “I’ve also heard that it’s between South Carolina and one other state.”

The identity of that other state in the Volvo sweepstakes has not been confirmed. However, most attention has focused on Georgia, where legislators just approved $25 million for a new worker training center near Savannah.

Typically, manufacturers pit states against each other to secure incentive packages, including tax credits for jobs created, free land and other perks.

A circumstantial case can be made that South Carolina is doing everything it can to attract Volvo.

▪  Berkeley County has applied for a permit to fill wetlands and clear land for a manufacturing operation expected to employ 4,000 workers within a decade. State Commerce Department officials met with conservationists earlier this week, attempting to work out a deal to expedite development of the site. That deal reportedly would include an agreement to preserve endangered wetlands elsewhere in the state.

▪  S.C. Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, has revived a plan to borrow for building and infrastructure projects. Leatherman was a key negotiator in bringing Boeing to South Carolina, helping secure $450 million in incentives for the aircraft manufacturer’s first $750 million investment. Leatherman’s proposed bond package could include money for workforce training as well as incentives.

“If the Senate does do a bond bill, it more than likely will include many more economic incentives than the House (budget) wound up with,” Limehouse said.

Earlier this session, S.C. House budget writers proposed borrowing nearly $500 million, including $111 million for technical schools and workforce training. That proposal, which collapsed under opposition from Gov. Nikki Haley, also included $60 million for water and sewer projects for economic development.

Some projects in the bond proposal were scaled back and put in the House version of the state budget that takes effect July 1.

For example, the bond package included $35 million for an aeronautical training center at Trident Technical College in the Lowcountry. That project, which also could train workers for a car manufacturer, ultimately received $20 million in the House budget.

“If they can train workers how to build airplanes, I would think that those same workers would be very valuable on an automobile assembly line,” Limehouse said.

State Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Berkeley, said Friday the most important thing when recruiting companies is being competitive with incentives and in workforce and training.

State Rep. Gary Simrill, the York Republican who chairs the House budget panel that decides economic development spending, said the state’s “deal-closing fund,” used to land large projects, is open-ended, allowing negotiations to take place.

The House approved $8 million for that fund this year. But senators could put more money into the fund next week as they decide now to recommend spending state dollars.

The Senate Finance Committee will continue debating the state’s $6.9 billion general fund budget when lawmakers return to Columbia Tuesday.

Senate leader Leatherman, who chairs the Finance Committee, has said he intends for the bond bill, which could include economic-development incentives, to travel in tandem with the state budget.

That means the bond bill likely will be discussed next week as well.

This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 8:52 PM with the headline "Volvo narrows search to S.C., one other state."