Stanly County Commissioners Spend $5+ Million In Dispute With Alcoa

Over the past few months there has been a lot of public discussion concerning the ALCOA relicensing dispute, the effort to locate CleanTech in Stanly County and the dollars spent by the Stanly County Commissioners on these two items.

The following is from information requested and provided from the Stanly County Finance Department.

The first date Stanly County funds were spent on the ALCOA relicensing dispute was October 26th 2006. Since that date, through December 21st, 2011, Stanly County funds of $4,913,084 has been spent. The amount of $23,944 remains in the county budget, that ends June 30th, 2012, for Attorney Department professional services.

By fiscal year the total Stanly County funds spent on the ALCOA relicensing dispute each period was as follows:

June 30th, 2007 $ 215,152
June 30th, 2008 $ 734,809
June 30th, 2009 $1,002,207
June 30th, 2010 $1,799,133
June 30th, 2011 $1,085,774
as of 12/21/11 $ 76,005

Any time spent on the ALCOA relicense dispute by county employees is not reflected in the above amounts. County staff compensation would be in addition to the $4,913,084 that has been paid through December 21st, 2011.

Since the ALCOA relicensing dispute began, each penny on the Stanly County tax rate generated the following revenue:

* 2007 $385,141
* 2008 $395,511
* 2009 $400,551
* 2010 $403,414
* 2011 $405,610
* 2012 $405,988 projected

From the amounts above you can see how much of the Stanly County property tax rate it would take to fund the ALCOA relicensing dispute.

Some of the vendors and amounts paid from Stanly County funds for services relating to the ALCOA relicensing dispute from October 26th, 2006 through December 21st, 2011 are as follows:

*Parker, Poe, Adams, Bernistien (lawyers) $ 3,031,416
*Raleigh Tours (?) $ 2,621
*Womble Carlyle (lawyers) $ 35,306
*Spirgel & McDiarmin (lawyers) $ 823,503
*Reimbursement to Lindsey Dunevant (travel) $ 853
*Joshua Morton (legal services prior to election) $ 679
*Michael W. Taylor (lawyer) $ 521,435
*Stoel Rives LLC (?) $ 2,053
*Environmental Services (professional) $ 48,962
*Tharrington Smith (lawyers) $ 13,826
*MMI Associates (public relations) $ 202,659
*Tracy Daniels (depositions) $ 38,855
*Hamilton Campaigns (public opinion survey) $ 12,900
*Equivalent Data (?) $ 19,588
*Hart & Hickman (legal) $ 6,529
*Entrix, Inc (legal) $ 61,913
*John H Rodgers (professional) $ 46,336
*Lawrance Reporting (transcripts) $ 1,175
*IVIZE of Charlotte (legal) $ 1,085
*Document Technologies (legal) $ 6,350
*McCarter & English (lawyers) $ 13,030
*Mediation Inc (legal) $ 1,676
*Kay McGovern & Associates (professional) $ 5,665
*Beason & Ellis (mediation) $ 2,253
*Jerry Myers (?) $ 12,475
*Windstream (phone conference) $ 743

Concerning the CleanTech industry wanting to locate in Stanly County, records show the Stanly County Economic Development Commission department had expenditures of $249. All of this expenditure was for meals