Lawmakers Address Mamtek

Missouri lawmakers say there needs to be a way to stop bad projects like a failed Mid-Missouri sweetener plant that cost tax payers big bucks. Early Monday a House committee took a closer look at the Missouri Quality Jobs Act.The program has brought jobs to Missouri but it is also blamed for luring Mamtek, the sucralose plant that cost Moberly tax payers millions, but never opened. At this point there are a lot of ideas, but no concrete plans of change. A bill will need to be filed for any changes to occur in the way the Quality Jobs Act is overseen, therefore the goal of the hearing was to figure out how to create more home run businesses and fewer disasters like Mamtek.”Hopeful, looking forward to find a way we can ensure that the Department of Economic Development stops projects from going forward with taxpayer money that have no chance of success,” said Republican Representative Jay Barnes of Jefferson City.The hope is clear; the answer of what to change though is not. However, Monday lawmakers focused on if the Quality Jobs Act delivers what it promises. “These are not actual jobs that are being measured; you got that $11 thousand number today. That is not actual jobs, that is a prediction from some model of how someone thinks the economy works,” said Lindenwood University’s Professor Howard Wall.”The quality jobs act is not delivering quite as promised and that for a majority of cases of huge tax credits authorized under the quality jobs act are actually complete whiffs, total failures…” said Representative Barnes. He pushes that the biggest example is Mamtek, and implied the approval of the act may have pressured local governments to quickly give bond money to the plan. Representative Barnes also said it doesn’t allow department of economic development enough ability to slam the brakes on bad projects.”The department lacked discretion at that time in their offer of quality jobs to the company; they had to make that offer as they would to any applicant to the program. So would discretion have stopped their offer? I have no way of answering that, could that be part of the answer going forward? Possibly…” said Brian Grace who is currently with SNR Denton but used to be with the Department of Economic Development.Representative Barnes asked Grace “How do we get more Express Scripts and fewer Mamteks?” After a brief joke Grace responded “it’s a complex question and there has to be a complex answer.”Representative Barnes said at least part of the answer comes with change, especially looking at tax credits and ensuring departments actually do their job moving forward. “Had any due diligence been done, that project would have been stopped and the people of Moberly would have been saved from what was really a tragic example of state tax credits and local economic incentives gone array,” Said Representative Barnes.