BRUNSWICK, Maine — Maine Gov. Paul LePage says the state has put together a comprehensive package for Kestrel Aircraft Co. and is “ready to make this happen.”
LePage issued a statement Friday after a newspaper reported that hundreds of Kestrel manufacturing jobs may go to Wisconsin instead of Brunswick Landing. Alan Klapmeier, Kestrel’s CEO and chairman, told the Portland Press Herald that Maine officials failed to follow through on financing.
LePage said incentives include lease write-downs valued at $250,000 a year, property tax exemptions valued at $105,000 a year, $750,000 for building improvements and a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant.
The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority stands ready to issue $10 million in tax revenue bonds. Other incentives include millions of dollars in loan guarantees and letters of credit.
{LePage still hopeful of landing Kestrel}
Just don’t open your mouth!
That’s his job creation plan? Throw money at businesses? You would think if he is going to throw money at businesses, it would be towards businesses that are working to stay in Maine, not those working to get out. He should throw a little of that money at businesses that have earned it.
So, Governor, your idea of creating jobs is paying off a company to set up here? Isn’t that exactly like us giving food stamps to employees of Mardens? I mean, aren’t we subsidizing businesses like Marden’s, Walmart, Mickey D’s etc by subsididing with food stamps? I thought you were against such waste of taxpayer’s $$$!
You forgot to add health care to the food stamps that the employee’s of the companies you mentioned are eligible for.
The anti-Welfare governor seems to have no trouble handing out corporate welfare.
Maine finally has a Governor to move our State in the right direction, if anyone can get this done its him.
Put him in the cockpit and let him fly this deal home. Yabba dabba do!
And how is this going to cost us, all those concessions?
You better check your oxygen mask and your compass too, while your at it, Smiling Jack.
Another comment from the Blaine house.
The company’s website indicates that they in the process of raising $100 million to begin production of the Kestrel. As nice as the plane is, its capabilities are a little better than the Pilatus pc-12, a well-crafted Swiss aircraft with similar lines and features. The Kestrel website gives no indication of pre-production orders.
What happened to the “private sector” here? I thought that the right would have us believe that government should not be involved with picking winners and losers?
Maybe the problem here is that private investors (banks, VCs and others) have seen their business and won’t touch them. If the private sector won’t fund then neither should we.
Good riddance. Let Wisconsin have them.
Before ANY TAX BREAKS OR CREDITS are done Kestrel needs to show that they are committed to actually producing the aircraft. That means showing someone a verifiable production order, not just some ‘ginne’d up’ Letter of Interest. Tax credit’s need to be offset by actually producing aircraft that require actual Mainer’s to build that generate both sales tax revenue (What’s the rate on one of these, someone please tell us all ) and the State income tax. Giving a tax credit for something that’s not even in production, much less sold pending production, is not just bad financial practice. It is, in fact, another bailout. I sincerely hope Kestrel can get their plane into production. God knows Maine needs it and with the vast amount of aviation knowledge around (Brunswick NAS, Loring AFB and the like )it would be a huge waste to time, technology (especially with the composite’s being produced up here)and talent to see it all fall thru. But first I want to see a VERIFIED PRODUCTION ORDER ! And I would seriously suggest that someone on the Appropriations Committee look at this as well. The State House has a whole office specifically set up to just this (Policy Analysis). Time for someone in Augusta to start working, not just moving paper from desk A to desk B.
This is a new business start-up and the state has no business getting into the venture capital business. It is one thing for an established firm looking to expand its capacity into the state seeking a competitve edge through state support but it is an entirely different animal to assist funding a brand new company. Nine of ten start-ups fail in the first three years and this company will surely be back at the feeding trough within that time frame.
The company started this process and thought it had a deal two years ago. If it is still looking for subsidies it means that the private sector isn’t buying in. The state should walk away and save the taxpayers money for projects that benefit a greater share of the population.
Yes, Maine to entrepreneurs – we are NOT “Open for Business”.
Go to California
yessah
So far he’s giving away $11.3 Million to lure this private, for-profit enterprise here. What else is he giving them that we don’t know about yet. What ever happened to being a fiscal conservative and believing in market capitalism rather than corporate welfare?
The Kestrel and the Penguin soaring high in the skies over Maine. Can the State afford to fuel another fantasy flight of crony capitalism. And whats to stop the Kestrel from taking flight when the bennies run out, leaving Maine and the Penguin crashed at the end of the runway. The State needs a better economic model than the 1946 era cargo cultists of New Guinea.. The Penguin fancies himself Milton Friedman with a bone in his nose.
And whats to stop the Kestrel from taking flight when the bennies run out, leaving Maine and the Penguin crashed at the end of the runway
Unlike many States, Maine has a severance pay Law for exiting companies ,
watch carefully as these Open for Buisnessmen running the state try to dismantle that law
At a time when US light/general aviation manufacturing was essentially defunct, Alan and his brother started what became and is still the best selling four place high performance composite aircraft in the world–the Cirrus.
Kestrel is actually a proven UK design that fits a market niche perfectly for composite high-perfomance complex turboprop aircraft. They are far more efficient that VLJs (very light jets) on legs under 1000km and their acquisition and maintenance costs are much lower.
Alan has a demonstrated track record of extraordinary and visionary success. It’s no surprise that his former company is now owned lock, stock and barrel by the Chinese. Look at Duluth, MN before and after Cirrus arrived–talk about a significant upgrade to their economic landscape.
As a retired economic development specialist (our firm analyzes development climate nationwide) I had the pleasure of following the Duluth project and the work that went into it. Alan is the real deal and keeping his Kestrel project in Maine would go a long ways towards starting to build the type of high-tech manufacturing jobs that are coveted across the nation.
Is Maine to continue to be “flightless bird” in the high-tech manufacturing sector? While there are no guarantees in life, I’d hedge a bet on Kestrel. Like it or not, this is a highly competitive sector and this company is currently in play. Wisconsin isn’t stupid–it only need look right nearby in Minnesota to see what happened with the last company Alan started.
At a time when US light/general aviation manufacturing was essentially defunct, Alan and his brother started what became and is still the best selling four place high performance composite aircraft in the world–the Cirrus.
Kestrel is actually a proven UK design that fits a market niche perfectly for composite high-perfomance complex turboprop aircraft. They are far more efficient that VLJs (very light jets) on legs under 1000km and their acquisition and maintenance costs are much lower.
Alan has a demonstrated track record of extraordinary and visionary success. It’s no surprise that his former company is now owned lock, stock and barrel by the Chinese. Look at Duluth, MN before and after Cirrus arrived–talk about a significant upgrade to their economic landscape.
As a retired economic development specialist (our firm analyzes development climate nationwide) I had the pleasure of following the Duluth project and the work that went into it. Alan is the real deal and keeping his Kestrel project in Maine would go a long ways towards starting to build the type of high-tech manufacturing jobs that are coveted across the nation.
Is Maine to continue to be “flightless bird” in the high-tech manufacturing sector? While there are no guarantees in life, I’d hedge a bet on Kestrel. Like it or not, this is a highly competitive sector and this company is currently in play. Wisconsin isn’t stupid–it only need look right nearby in Minnesota to see what happened with the last company Alan started.
At a time when US light/general aviation manufacturing was essentially defunct, Alan and his brother started what became and is still the best selling four place high performance composite aircraft in the world–the Cirrus.
Kestrel is actually a proven UK design that fits a market niche perfectly for composite high-perfomance complex turboprop aircraft. They are far more efficient that VLJs (very light jets) on legs under 1000km and their acquisition and maintenance costs are much lower.
Alan has a demonstrated track record of extraordinary and visionary success. It’s no surprise that his former company is now owned lock, stock and barrel by the Chinese. Look at Duluth, MN before and after Cirrus arrived–talk about a significant upgrade to their economic landscape.
As a retired economic development specialist (our firm analyzes development climate nationwide) I had the pleasure of following the Duluth project and the work that went into it. Alan is the real deal and keeping his Kestrel project in Maine would go a long ways towards starting to build the type of high-tech manufacturing jobs that are coveted across the nation.
Is Maine to continue to be “flightless bird” in the high-tech manufacturing sector? While there are no guarantees in life, I’d hedge a bet on Kestrel. Like it or not, this is a highly competitive sector and this company is currently in play. Wisconsin isn’t stupid–it only need look right nearby in Minnesota to see what happened with the last company Alan started.
At a time when US light/general aviation manufacturing was essentially defunct, Alan and his brother started what became and is still the best selling four place high performance composite aircraft in the world–the Cirrus.
Kestrel is actually a proven UK design that fits a market niche perfectly for composite high-perfomance complex turboprop aircraft. They are far more efficient that VLJs (very light jets) on legs under 1000km and their acquisition and maintenance costs are much lower.
Alan has a demonstrated track record of extraordinary and visionary success. It’s no surprise that his former company is now owned lock, stock and barrel by the Chinese. Look at Duluth, MN before and after Cirrus arrived–talk about a significant upgrade to their economic landscape.
As a retired economic development specialist (our firm analyzes development climate nationwide) I had the pleasure of following the Duluth project and the work that went into it. Alan is the real deal and keeping his Kestrel project in Maine would go a long ways towards starting to build the type of high-tech manufacturing jobs that are coveted across the nation.
Is Maine to continue to be “flightless bird” in the high-tech manufacturing sector? While there are no guarantees in life, I’d hedge a bet on Kestrel. Like it or not, this is a highly competitive sector and this company is currently in play. Wisconsin isn’t stupid–it only need look right nearby in Minnesota to see what happened with the last company Alan started.