Mayor: critics need to ogle Google deal.

• Author: Murray, Arthur O.
• Position: TAR HEEL TATTLER

Promising a company incentives for creating 210 jobs might seem a no-brainer--as in state and local officials must have no brains to cut a deal that gives Google Inc. $260 million over 30 years for coming to Lenoir. After all, that's more than $1 million per job.

While it's unquestionably a good deal for the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet search engine, a closer look at the numbers shows it also will make money for the state, city and Caldwell County. And they don't have to spend $600 million to build and equip a server farm--buildings housing massive banks of computers--to earn it.

The state's portion, nearly $100 million, features a $4.8 million Job Development Investment Grant. Google doesn't get the money until it creates and keeps the jobs. The state also is giving sales-tax breaks--foregoing money it wouldn't collect if the company didn't come. All told, the state anticipates it will get about $37.1 million more from Google than it will give up.

Mayor David Barlow says the city and county will be net gainers, despite agreeing to forgive all of Google's local business-property and 80% of its real-estate taxes for 30 years. The land on which Google will build is valued at about $6.5 million, Barlow says, which generates about $35,100 apiece for the city and county. They have identical property-tax rates.

As a server farm, the property's tax value would skyrocket, though how high...