DETROIT (AP) — Detroit officials plan to monitor Marathon
Petroleum’s hiring practices more closely to ensure that the company is
making an effort to hire city residents, officials said.
Marathon
got a $175 million tax break from the City of Detroit for a $2.2 billion
expansion project at its refinery in southeast Detroit. The personal
property tax abatement was awarded after Marathon in 2007 appealed to
City Council, pledging to recruit Detroiters for new jobs.
"In a
city with double-digit unemployment, any company that’s receiving a tax
abatement of nearly $180 million should be giving more back, including
hiring residents," Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins said.
Marathon
employs 514 full-time workers at its refinery, and 30 workers are listed
as Detroit residents as of January, the Detroit Free Press reported (http://on.freep.com/1gw2yuY ). In 2007, when
the city approved the tax abatement, the refinery
employed about 320 people, 15 of whom were Detroit residents.
Representatives
of Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon said the company wants to hire more
Detroiters but has had difficulty finding qualified applicants. They
said Marathon funds a scholarship program at Henry Ford Community
College designed to promote local hiring, but some of the available
scholarships have gone unfilled.
"We would like nothing better
than to have a higher percentage of Detroit residents in our workforce,"
refinery general manager Tracy Case told Council members during a
discussion on the company’s hiring practices planning and economic
development committee meeting last month.
"We are aligned in that
desire, but there are certain difficulties and challenges and
obligations we have to our company to find the best people to work for
us," Case said, adding that Detroit residency would be a tie-breaker in a
hiring choice between two similarly qualified candidates.
Portia
Roberson, Mayor Mike Duggan’s group executive for ethics and civil
rights, has been asked to further review Marathon’s hiring of Detroit
residents. She is expected to report back to City Council in six months.
In
2007, a city analysis estimated that the expansion would generate $181
million in income taxes, real property taxes and other fees for the city
over two decades.
"I want to give everybody the benefit of the
doubt, but also I want Detroit residents to see where their tax dollars
are going when you’re talking about tax abatements," Council President
Brenda Jones said. "I want them to have the same fair chance that
anybody else has."
The city has agreed to 23 personal property tax
abatements for various companies since 1998. The state treasurer has
final approval of the exemptions, which are granted for a specific
period, not for a specific dollar amount. The city typically forecasts
the revenue involved.
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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/
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