LORDSTOWN — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost says General Motors should repay $60 million in public incentives after it shut down an assembly plant near Youngstown.
At issue is an economic development agreement that gave GM millions in tax breaks beginning in 2009 in exchange for a promise to keep the Lordstown plant operating at least through 2028 and retain 3,700 jobs through 2040, Yost said.
GM closed the plant last year then decided to build a new electric battery cell factory in the same area, but with far fewer jobs. Yost is urging the Ohio Tax Credit Authority to demand repayment of the $60 million.
“Promises were meant to be kept, it’s what we were taught as children and it’s something adults and companies should honor. Accountability is the key to good business and we’re holding GM accountable for not living up to its end of the contract,” Yost said.
A 2019 study by the Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University estimated that GM’s closure of the Lordstown facility ultimately caused the loss of nearly 8,000 jobs and more than $8 billion in economic activity in the regional economy, Yost said.
The automaker has said it hopes the state will take into account its significant manufacturing presence in Ohio.