Wal-Mart Subsidy Report for Ohio

Subsidies received by Wal-Mart
There are no centralized databases of economic development subsidies, but Good Jobs First found 10 deals worth a total of about $49.9 million in Ohio. They include the following:

Good Jobs First has compiled data on Wal-Mart subsidies in the following cities
Cleveland/Steelyard Commons, OH : $4.16 million
Columbus, OH : $2.6 million
Grove City, OH : $19 million
Island Creek Township (Winterville), OH : more than $9.2 million
Lancaster, OH : $1.26 million
Moraine (Dayton), OH : more than $157,000
Ravenna, OH : $1.3 million
Streetsboro, OH : $491,000
Washington Court House, OH : more than $8.3 million
West Chester, OH : $3.4 million

Hidden taxpayer costs
Many Wal-Mart workers are ineligible for health coverage from their employer or choose not to purchase what is available, because it is too expensive or too limited in scope. These workers often turn to taxpayer-funded health programs such as Medicaid. In February 2006 the Department of Job and Family Services, in response to requests from Policy Matters Ohio and others, released a report on those employers with the largest number of workers participating in the Medicaid, food stamps and Ohio Works First (cash assistance) programs. For Medicaid, Wal-Mart was first with 12,184 employees. For food stamps, Wal-Mart was second (behind McDonald's) with 7,327 employees. As for Ohio Works First, McDonald's ranked 4th with 356 employees. Sources: Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, Report Identifying the Number of Benefit Recipients by Employer, February 24, 2006; available online at http://jfs.ohio.gov/releases/EmployerReport.pdf See also: Julie Carr Smyth, "Ohio Workers Depend on Public Benefits," Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 25, 2006 and the Policy Matters Ohio initial analysis of the data at: http://www.policymattersohio.org/pdf/public_benefits_2006_03.pdf

For an estimate of how much Wal-Mart is costing the state of OH for taxpayer-funded healthcare, see http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/feature/healthcrisis/map.html#OH

Property Tax Appeals
In the course of researching our report Rolling Back Property Tax Payments , Good Jobs First learned of property tax assessment appeals at the following Wal-Mart locations in Ohio:

West Union, OH : $64,159
Urbana, OH : $6,203
North Olmsted, OH
Greenville, OH : $17,977
Delaware, OH : $14,689
Sandusky, OH
Grove City, OH
Wauseon, OH
Millersburg, OH
South Point, OH : $7,854
Heath, OH : $6,091
Zanesville, OH : $9,137
Streetsboro, OH : $52,141
Fremont, OH : $9,227
Macedonia, OH : $61,156
New Philadelphia, OH : $78,298
Middletown, OH

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