Bristol, Tenn. City Manager Jeffrey Broughton urged the city council Tuesday to support a plan to provide tax breaks for a proposed waste-to-ethanol plant at the former American Phoenix facility, according to the Bristol Herald Courier.

Reclaimed Resources Inc. has proposed building a $140 million ethanol plant that would start production in the next three years and create about 100 jobs.

The proposal calls for the city of Bristol and Sullivan County to give Reclaimed Resources at least $4 million in real and property tax breaks during a five- to seven-year period.

Both the Bristol City Council and the Sullivan County Board of Commissioners would need to approve the tax abatements.

(Bristol Herald Courier, Oct. 21, 2009)

(http://www2.tricities.com/…)

DTN: During the recent ethanol boom in the state of Iowa, Iowa State University economics professor David Swenson said some small communities provided significant property tax exemptions to ethanol plants that haven't panned out. As a result, some plants are off the tax rolls for as long as 20 years although they're not producing. Swenson's point is that communities need to way the costs and benefits of providing such tax breaks before committing. (Todd Neeley)