Support for bond

In an election that probably won't generate much public interest today, voters are being asked to decide two constitutional amendments that will have a significant bearing on Alabama's financial-outlook.

Amendment One would allow the state to issue $400 million in bonds to pay for economic incentives for the ThyssenKrupp steel plant in Mobile County, as well as other industrial projects around the state -- including the Project Tiger plant that would create 1,500 new jobs in the Shoals.

ThyssenKrupp, a German company, looked at Louisiana as well as Alabama for its new steel plant, but Alabama won out in part because of its incentive offer. It provides tax credits, infrastructure support and job training designed to offset the cost of startup for the plant, which is expected to employ 2,700 people with a company investment of several billion dollars.

Money from the bond will be used for other industrial prospects, the largest of those known being the proposed rail car manufacturing plant at Barton Riverfront Industrial Park west of Tuscumbia. Like the ThyssenKrupp project, money from the bond would be used for infrastructure and related costs. In addition, a local incentive package approved last week by the Legislature would be used to offset costs.

Critics of the incentive bond say offering that much money to a foreign plant could hurt existing American jobs. Whether that is true is debatable, but it's a fact of life in the industrial development business that states that don't offer incentives -- especially rural states like Alabama -- can't compete for jobs.

Amendment Two would provide constitutional protection to two funds established by the Legislature to save money for the future health-care costs of retired state workers and public education employees. The protection would prevent the Legislature in the future from raiding the funds for other uses.

Supporters of Amendment Two say it is designed to demonstrate to Wall Street that the funds are not subject to political whims, which should help keep state bond rates low.

We encourage Shoals are residents to support these amendments. Amendment One represents a down payment on a better economic future, and Amendment Two provides the kind of protection health-care funds should always have.