Oh Won't You Stay? County Hatching Incentives For Smith, LMS

Cabarrus County (NC) leaders are “quietly trying to assemble about $75[M] in incentives in hopes of discouraging [SMI Chair & CEO] Bruton Smith from moving Lowe's Motor Speedway,” according to an e-mail sent from County Manager John Day to county commissioners cited by Adam Bell of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The e-mail indicated that the state of North Carolina, Cabarrus County and city of Concord “would each chip in a third of the money to cover the incentives, which range from road improvements around the speedway to property tax rebates.” These incentives were “culled in part from Smith's ‘wish list.’”  Day indicated that options to pay for the incentives include increasing the property tax rate by [$.01], increasing the hotel/motel occupancy tax by 1[%] or seeking state legislation for a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 11/11).