ARCADIA, WI (WTAQ) – The mayor of Arcadia said Wednesday that a decision by its largest employer not to seek tax breaks for a business expansion could be “potentially devastating” to the city’s downtown.
Mayor John Kimmel said Ashley Furniture was planning to give $6 million in income tax breaks to the city, for a flood-control project to protect Arcadia’s central district. Now, Kimmel tells the La Crosse Tribune the city might be prevented from carrying out the flood project — something it’s been trying to achieve since a major flood hit Arcadia’s downtown in 2010.
The mayor said the city and it’s 2,900 residents need financial help for a solution. He said Ashley Furniture wanted to be a good neighbor by providing the tax credits it has now scrapped, saying it needs to align its job growth strategies with the local labor market and regional economic conditions.
Kimmel said some news media did not mention the planned donation of the tax credits to the city, when it was first reported that the state was asked to approve the tax credits even if Ashley’s total employment in the state drops by half.
Ashley said there was no way that would happen — and it was widely reported that Ashley would have given the tax credits to the city to help prevent future floods.
Kimmel says the city will keep trying to seek funds from other sources.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
