NC City Raises Bid for Apple Data Center

As the unemployment rate continues to creep upward, many communities have become more and more desperate for job openings. Maiden, North Carolina, located in Catawba county, agreed today to raise its previous offer of incentives for Apple to open its East Coast data center near city limits, bringing much-needed jobs to a community with a 15 percent unemployment rate. 
 
Apple could save $46 million when compared to the state’s previous offer, as North Carolina rewrote its tax calculations to give Apple’s $1 billion data center such a break. Catawba County and the city of Maiden could also pay Apple about $21 million over the next ten years once the 500,000 square foot data center is up and running.
 
Considering that the data center would probably only employ about 50 full-time employees, this seems like a lot of money to spend. However, proponents of the move cite the extra $9.3 million the community would take in as income tax, as well as the amount of auxiliary jobs that would be created.

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