Beacon Center
Corporate welfare, Bluff City Law, and lax government spending topped the Beacon Center’s 2020 Pork Report for Memphis and Shelby County this year.
The center is a non-partisan, free-market think tank in Nashville. Its new Pork Report marks the 15th year the agency has taken aim at wasteful government spending in Tennessee. This year, the report featured 12 examples of “pork” from this year and three of the group’s “favorite” examples of government waste from the last 15 years.
“Beacon has long fought corporate welfare, where governments lavish some big businesses with massive handouts that other small businesses aren’t fortunate enough to receive, all at the expense of taxpayers,” reads the report. “And we’ll continue that quest until the government stops picking winners and losers.”
FastTrack
AutoZone HQ in Memphis
The report reviewed the state’s FastTrack program. It’s similar to the Memphis and Shelby County Economic Development Growth Engine (EDGE) program as it also gives grants and tax breaks to companies to locate, expand, or stay in Tennessee.
The Beacon report said, “Tennessee taxpayers are asked to give up millions of dollars to private companies through the state’s main corporate welfare program: FastTrack.”
In the last year, the program has given $39.6 million to big companies like Pringles and Accenture. Last year, AutoZone got $2.3 million in a grant from the program for an expansion and new location project here worth $191.3 million and 130 new jobs.
”The overwhelming evidence shows that these types of programs make little difference in company relocation and expansion decisions,” reads the report. “Estimates indicate these handouts sway companies as little as 2 percent of the time. Do we really think when Pringles is investing over $200 million to expand its factory that giving it $400,000 is really necessary?”
Bluff City Law
Jake Giles Netter/NBC
Going straight — Caitlin McGee (left) and Jimmy Smits play father-daughter attorney duo at the Strait Law Firm.
Beacon said Shelby County taxpayers are still on the hook in 2020 for a courtroom drama that was canceled in 2019. 
Beacon Center
EDGE delivered Bluff City Law $1.4 million in tax breaks back in August 2019. That was part of a larger incentive package worth $4.2 million.
After the show was canceled, Shelby County Assessor Melvin Burgess took aim at the incentive here, according to The Commercial Appeal.
“My team and I strongly believe that there is absolutely no public benefit that would justify Comcast and NBC receiving $1 million per year of taxpayers’ money that I can recognize,” Burgess said at the time. “Accordingly, I believe that Shelby County government should challenge the approval of the PILOT and the loss of tax revenue.”
They didn’t.
“Because of the incompetence of the Memphis EDGE board, Memphis taxpayers are left holding the bag while politicians try to explain away the bad decision and talk about all the ‘unseen benefits’ that the short-lived show created for the city,” Beacon said in the report. “Film incentives are always problematic and should be eliminated entirely.”
However, Charles Vance, director of marketing and communications for EDGE, said the future years of the PILOT ended when the show cancelled. The show did positive things for the city’s image and economy, he said.
“As the show was canceled, future years of the PILOT are now canceled, and Comcast will only see benefits from the first year,” Vance said in a statement. “That provision was always built into the PILOT agreement.
“The PILOT benefit started on December 31st, 2019 and expires December 31st, 2020. The show’s promotional value was significant. On top of the great [public relations] exposure for our city, the show created jobs, and spent more than $31 million here.”
Shelby County hiring freeze
After a warning about the county’s dire financial situation by Mayor Lee Harris, the Shelby County Commissioner agreed to a freeze on hiring and promotions earlier this year. The freeze lasted about a month.
“This is the problem with government finances,” reads the report. “When times are tough, families have to dig deep and make tough decisions. 
Beacon Center
“But for governments, tough times are merely an inconvenience. Governments at all levels are able to kick the can down the road (like the federal government) or ask struggling taxpayers to bail them out (like Nashville). Our leaders need to remember that they are charged to be stewards of taxpayer money, not treat it like monopoly money.”
For this, Beacon suggested that Shelby County government should cut unessential services and enact a spending cap tied to economic growth to curb excessive government growth.
Memphis Regional Megasite
TNECD
A view of the megasite looking north from I-40.
The Memphis Regional Megasite won a spot in Beacon’s top three worst “porks” of the last 15 years.
No company is showing interest in the 4,100-acre piece of land east of Memphis that Beacon calls “the field of empty promises.” This is after more than a decade and $200 million in state investment.
”Yet, after numerous major companies have begged off, all they can do now is watch the grass grow,” reads the report. “It’s high time to flush this boondoggle down the drain once and for all.”
See the full report here:
[pdf-1]