Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave isn’t making any apologies for the size of the forgivable loan that he’s proposing for InSinkEerator.
The Racine-based company has announced plans to build a new $24 million headquarters and lab facility in Mt. Pleasant just off of I-94.
The Racine County Board is being asked to approve a $4.6 million loan, which would be ‘forgiven’ if job creation targets would be met. The money would come from the county's healthy reserve fund, possibly supplemented by additional county borrowing.
In an interview with WGTD, Delagrave said the county is in excellent financial shape to extend a helping hand, and that retaining jobs is his first priority. "We really wanted to make sure that we did everything possible to keep InSinkErator here rather than going out of county or out of the state."
The company had the option of moving its headquarters to the St. Louis area, home of InSinkErator's parent company, Emerson Electric. The threat was real, Delagarve added.
A couple of Racine County Board committees will review the loan request Wednesday evening.
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