Making an incentive live up to its name.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: Tar Heel Tattler

Euphoria. That, former Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Patrick Woodie says, was the mood in 1993 when Bristol Compressors said it was bringing 750 jobs to Sparta. A job seeker called the Bristol, Va.-based company "our great white hope." However, people called it other names last year when the air-conditioner compressor maker shut down. Despite receiving $7.4 million in recruiting incentives, it had created only 465 jobs and invested little more than half the money it promised (cover story, February 2002).

Poorer but wiser, the town and Alleghany County are determined that a division of Raleigh-based Martin Marietta Materials Inc., tentatively set to move into the vacant plant this spring, won't turn out like Bristol. In a deal recently announced, the difference is one some say should become the norm in incentives: Pay for performance, not promises. "The onus is on us," says Grant Godwin, vice president of Martin Marietta Composites. "If we do what we say, we'll get some benefits. If we don't, we won't. That's fair."

Fair but uncommon. The Bristol deal soared to $15.5 million in state and local incentives. Bristol said last year it was consolidating operations in Virginia, which gave it about $1 million in incentives. The town and county are suing Bristol for $7.4 million, contending that the company delivered about half of what it promised. Bristol acknowledges it owes some money, a spokesman says, but disputes the amount. A...