 Caterpillar laid out its decision Tuesday in an email to elected
leaders in Peoria County, saying it considered factors such as
access to ports and local labor markets, as well as proximity to
Caterpillar's building and construction projects division
headquarters in Cary, N.C.But the email, signed only by the
Peoria-based company's North American Facility Site Selection Team,
says Caterpillar's longstanding complaints about Illinois' state
budget deficit were a factor.
Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman complained to Gov. Pat Quinn last
year about the state's business climate, after Illinois raised
income taxes. Oberhelman noted that Caterpillar is regularly courted
by other states trying to lure away the company's headquarters,
though he later said the company has no plans to leave.
While declining to address the email, Caterpillar spokesman Jim
Dugan said Wednesday that many of those concerns persist.
"It remains our desire to work collaboratively, but we're not
going to be shy about expressing our concerns about the state of the
state," Dugan said. "It needs bipartisanship, and it needs not just
the governor, but the Legislature and the governor's office to make
some long-term decisions that will put the state on good fiscal
footing."
The governor signed off on the tax increase last January to try
to help cut a multibillion-dollar state government budget deficit.
The personal income tax increased from 3 percent to 5 percent, and
the corporate rate rose from 4.8 percent to 7 percent.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for Quinn said the governor hopes to
work on some of Caterpillar's concerns this year.
"That includes both major Medicaid and pension reforms in the
next year," spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said. She declined to
provide details, saying Quinn would cover those in his budget
address on Feb. 22.
Peoria was one of just under a dozen Illinois locations bidding
for the plant Caterpillar plans to build, Dugan said. He declined to
name them.
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Peoria County board member Allen Mayer said he wasn't surprised by
the decision.
"Caterpillar has indicated all along that they were considering
other locations, and they've also been very vocal about some of
their concerns about Illinois," he said. "I agree that Illinois is
in a difficult situation with its fiscal, its current fiscal
situation ... and it's going to take many years to get out of it."
The existing Caterpillar plant, now located in Sagami, Japan,
manufactures excavators and small tractors. The company plans to
move those operations to the new site and retool the Japanese plant
to manufacture components for a range of Caterpillar machines.
The company still plans to announce the location by April 1,
start construction in mid-2013 and be at full capacity in four to
five years, Dugan said. He declined to name the sites that remain
contenders.
The email indicated, though, that the plant will be built in
"tight" proximity to the Cary, N.C., division headquarters.
"We have defined a very tight search area that is primarily being
driven by logistics, port access, and proximity to our division
headquarters in Cary, North Carolina," the email said.
Sandy Jordan is vice president of the Cary Chamber of Commerce.
He said Cary, a Raleigh suburb in the Research Triangle region, has
not made a pitch to Caterpillar to host the new plant and hasn't
heard from the company about its plans.
[Associated
Press]
Copyright 2012 The Associated
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