Dell has repaid the state $1.51 million in grants it received for creating jobs at its soon-to-close Winston-Salem computer plant in 2006 and 2007, a Commerce Department official said today.
Dell also qualified for a jobs grant for 2008, but never received that money from the state, said Katharine Neal, an assistant secretary at Commerce.
The company announced that it plans to close the plant in January because of weak PC demand and lay off 900 workers.
The factory opened in 2004 after state and local officials promised a record incentives package worth more than $280 million. While seen by supporters as a symbol of North Carolina's evolving manufacturing base, critics attacked the incentives as a government handout to a wealthy corporation.
Winston-Salem and Forsyth County officials also have said they will be repaid millions in tax breaks and other incentives already given to Dell.
Dell, however, will not repay the state about $3.6 million in workforce training funds.
Meanwhile, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines has formed a task force that includes officials from Dell and the N.C. Department of Commerce to find a new tenant for the computer-assembly plant when it closes in January. The 700,000 square-foot plant is one of the largest manufacturing sites in the state.
Assistant Business Editor Alan M. Wolf joined the N&O in 1999 covering the business of health care. He became an editor in 2001, and helps oversee the paper's daily business coverage and Sunday Work&Money section. He lives in Clayton with his wife and two children. Reach him at 919-829-4572 or