(WICHITA, Kan.) — The state of Louisiana made Hawker-Beechcraft several offers to move. Five different ones to be exact, based on how much of the company was going to relocate.
According to documents Louisiana released to Eyewitness News Tuesday, the state offered to pay $75 million to build Hawker's new facility, pay $1.1 million for infrastructure expenditures, grant $16.8 for research and development and exempt Hawker from paying property taxes.
The agreement also said Hawker would have to give preference to local businesses for all of its parts and supplies.
But, the agreement asks Hawker to transfer ownership of the new factory over to the airport after it moves in. Also, if Hawker failed to meet certain criteria for these incentives, such as non-performance, it would be required to pay back an amount equivalent to 12-16 percent of the payroll or expenditure shortfall for each year. That would result in the company paying back all of the received incentives, over time, if it produced no jobs, or a proportionate amount of the initial incentives if it produced a proportion of the total required jobs and payroll.
