The recently announced expansion of a Pepsi bottling plant in DeKalb County came with a nearly $15.7 million tax break.
The food and beverage giant, state and local officials, and Decide DeKalb, the county’s economic development arm, announced earlier this month the planned expansion of an existing facility in Tucker. The $260-million project would add at least 136 new full-time jobs, officials said, bringing Pepsi’s total workforce in DeKalb to more than 600.
A press release said the expansion would make the Tucker plant one of Pepsi’s biggest and enable production there to increase by 500% by 2025.
The Decide DeKalb Development Authority has committed to issuing bonds to finance the project. According to newly obtained documents, it also offered about $15.68 million in property tax abatements.
The DeKalb County government, DeKalb County schools and the city of Tucker would all net more tax revenue than if the project wasn’t built, the development authority documents said.
But over the 10-year abatement term, the jurisdictions would receive around $7.2 million, $8.2 million and $319,000 less, respectively, than if the project moved forward without a tax break.
According to documents, Pepsi requested the incentives in order to “keep this location competitive against other business-friendly locations.”
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