Area Development
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has received a $1 million financial incentive from the city of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to help retain jobs at the company's facility there. The Fayetteville Observer reports that the agreement is part of a broader incentives package of more than $37 million, parts of which have been previously approved by the state and other local government agencies over the past two years. Goodyear agreed in the terms of that package to spend at least $200 million modernizing the 40-year-old plant. The city's funding will be paid out in annual increments of $100,000 and requires the company to maintain 2,000 jobs at the plant; if the plant fails to maintain that threshold, the payments will cease. The city will make the first payment to Goodyear when the plant's upgrades are completed in 2012.