GOV. EASLEY ANNOUNCES FOUNTAIN POWERBOATS EXPANSION IN BEAUFORT COUNTY
State Job Development Investment Grant Helps Company Add 250 Jobs Near Washington
RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley announced today that Fountain Powerboats Inc., designer and manufacturer of high-performance motorboats, will add 250 jobs and invest $12 million during the next five years to expand its Beaufort County facilities. The expansion was made possible in part by a Job Development Investment Grant.
“For more than 200 years, many North Carolinians have made careers in building boats,” Easley said. “This industry continues to thrive in our state because of our trained workforce, top-ranked business climate and superior quality of life. Whether we are attracting traditional industries or high-tech newcomers, North Carolina is committed to providing the best environment for employers, workers and their families.”
Fountain Powerboats, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fountain Powerboat Industries (AMEX:FPB), has its executive offices and manufacturing facilities on a 65-acre campus along the Pamlico River in Beaufort County. The company currently employs 333 people who design and manufacture sport and fishing powerboats as well as express cruisers. The company is expanding so it can produce a new line of boats on the campus. Earlier this year, Brunswick Corp., the world’s largest pleasure boat manufacturer, sold the assets of its high performance Baja Marine sports boat to Fountain, which will begin manufacturing the new 19- to 40-foot Baja by Fountain in 2009.
Wages for the 250 jobs that will be created by this expansion will vary by job title and responsibilities but the overall average will be $35,800, not including benefits, which is more than the Beaufort County average of $28,132.
“Relocating a major production process from one state to another is a very expensive proposition. North Carolina’s JDIG played strongly in our decision to relocate Baja boats to our existing North Carolina factory,” said company founder and CEO Reggie Fountain. “In the past, we have made the world’s fastest boats to the highest standards of quality using the best employees any manufacturer could hope for. Today’s announcement means we’re going to make even more boats, employing more of these great people.”
The state’s Economic Investment Committee voted unanimously today to award a JDIG grant to the company to facilitate this project. This is the 79th JDIG award announced since Easley and the General Assembly started the program in 2002, and the ninth awarded this year. Under terms of the nine-year agreement, the N.C. Department of Commerce estimates the project will:
- Generate a cumulative gross product value of about $245.35 million.
- Produce a positive, cumulative net state revenue impact of $329,000.
For each year in which the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 60 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. Should the company create the jobs called for under the agreement and sustain them for 11 years, the agreement could yield as much as $2.5 million in maximum benefits for Fountain Powerboats.
Job Development Investment Grants are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating more than 28,000 jobs and $4 billion in investment in North Carolina.
Other partners who assisted with this announcement include: The N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community College System, Beaufort County and the Beaufort County Committee of 100.
For more information about Fountain Powerboats, including employment opportunities, visit www.fountainpowerboats.com.
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