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February 23, 2006EditorialGraceland record isn't worth more largesseBy all accounts, Don Nugent's Graceland Fruit Inc., a Benzie County fruit processing operation, is thriving.The company, which has more than 180 employees, recently undertook a $20 million-plus expansion it said would add dozens of jobs. It has said it plans to invest millions more and add even more jobs. Part of the reason for all that success, however, is that portions of Graceland's operations are in a tax-free Michigan "agriculture renaissance zone" that will be worth millions in tax savings. Nugent got the designation in late 2002 from former Gov. John Engler, a friend and former political ally, as Engler was leaving office. Under the 15-year renaissance zone designation, Nugent doesn't have to pay the state Single Business tax or property taxes on portions of his operations. He estimated last year that the designation saves the company about $250,000 a year; that will increase as the value of the physical plant and production increase. And now, Graceland is hoping for more. The company has asked Benzie County to apply for grants that would help build a $4 million wastewater treatment plant to treat discharge from Graceland's fruit-processing operation. And you thought welfare was dead. It's not just the millions in tax breaks the firm has gotten that should give state and local officials pause. Graceland's poor environmental record should count for something. In 2003, the Benzie County Planning Commission delayed approval of Graceland expansion plans because of environmental concerns, including the fact that the company had been operating for a decade without a wastewater discharge permit. Graceland didn't have a discharge permit when the renaissance zone was approved, either. That didn't come until 2004, when the Department of Environmental Quality and Graceland agreed on a consent order. Today, an environmental record like Graceland's would preclude a renaissance designation. And the firm is still in negotiations with the state Attorney General's office over a proposed civil judgment to settle what were initially felony charges over the dumping of blueberry waste in a Benzie gravel pit. There's no doubt Benzie County could use more good jobs, and a taxpayer-funded wastewater treatment plant would no doubt help. But isn't there a limit? There should be. Graceland has gotten plenty of state largesse in the past few years, and has years more to come. But the firm has failed to hold up its end of the bargain, at least in terms of the environment. If the state really wants to help fruit processors in northwest Lower Michigan, it could consider building a treatment plant for discharges from every plant in the region and then help subsidize hauling costs.
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