What could be the largest package of bond and tax incentives in the history of the Development Authority of Cobb County was explained to the Cobb Board of Education Thursday.
There were a lot of “ifs” and “woulds” mentioned by officials from the Development Authority and the Lockheed Martin Corp. during a board work session.
That’s because Lockheed has only bid for a wide range of federal defense contracts that the company said could net Cobb government and schools more than $51 million in additional tax revenue over 26 years.
The proposal is codenamed “Project Mike.” Next week Lockheed will formally request the Development Authority’s approval of $1.6 billion in bonds and tax abatements, contingent upon a decision expected in the next few months by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Proposed tax abatements also come to the school board as a courtesy and don’t require a vote.
During the presentation, Tony Frese, Lockheed’s vice president of business development, told school board members that the federal projects it is seeking entail “next generation air dominance” and include classified high-tech work.
He rattled off some of the aeronautics’ giants current projects, noting that “some day they will come to an end . . . and we have to secure our future.”
Frese boasted of being a graduate of Walton High School, which gave him opportunities to attend Georgia Tech, become an aerospace engineer and work for Lockheed for 37 years.
He said that if Lockheed gets the contracts, it could add between 500 to more than 3,000 jobs by 2042.
When Frese was asked by vice chairman David Banks about the disparity in those figures, he said they depend on how many federal contracts Lockheed may receive.
The contracts would enable Lockheed, he said, “to attract the very best in aerospace engineers and talent and a wide spectrum of other high-tech opportunities.”
These opportunities, Frese said, “have been real for me, and with your support they will be real for many generations to come.”
Lockheed also would be spending more than $400 million to upgrade its Marietta plant on South Cobb Drive to accommodate the new workforce and projects.
When companies seek tax breaks from the Cobb Development Authority, they usually take place over a 10-year period.
Should Lockheed receive the contracts, those breaks would extend over 26 years, authority executive director Nelson Geter told the board.
“It’s beneficial to begin the abatement when the capital investment is to start,” Geter said, referring to the $400 million. “That’s why you’re seeing a 26-year cycle, instead of a 10-year cycle, because the last expenses associated with this project will occur 16 years after the original period [expires].
“It’s not a common but a proper process that we use when major capital investments are made over a period of time instead of one capital investment up front.”
Authority board member Clark Hungerford said the body wants to do “whatever we can do to assist [Lockheed] in setting up the bid to be as competitive as possible.”
Board chairman David Chastain, a proposal analyst for Lockheed, recused himself from the discussion.
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