MOUNT PLEASANT, WI JANUARY 6, 2022 – In November 2018, Mount Pleasant village officials were so sure the proposed Foxconn development would be such a great success they agreed to pay the Racine Water Utility for any water Foxconn didn’t use as part of the proposed $10 billion LCD factory scheme, which Foxconn claimed would require 7 million gallons of water a day to operate.
The $100 million water infrastructure project for Foxconn would require the Racine Water Utility to upgrade its existing water service at an additional cost of $26.8 million – which Mount Pleasant agreed to pay for over the next three decades.
Believing the cost would easily be paid through water sales to the technology company, the village agreed “for the remaining life of the TID 5, pay any annual shortfall in water sales revenue necessary to provide the revenue required to pay such debt service.”
The schedule for payment in the first few years reflected the planned period of construction, where little water would be required. However, in 2021 the payments begin to increase significantly.
The 2021 bill for annual shortfall in water sales is $3,350,000. In 2022, the village’s scheduled payment to the water utility will be $5,302,500 and continues to increase through 2030.
“The only water Foxconn is using is for bathroom sinks and flushing toilets, which leaves the village on the hook to pay for the lost water revenue,” says Kelly Gallaher of A Better Mt. Pleasant. “Local officials have maintained that Foxconn has met all their financial obligations to the village – they have not – and it’s only going to get worse.”
Gallaher continued, “the 2021 water revenue shortfall bill for the water Foxconn is not using represents $126 for every man, woman and child in our community. Next year it will be $200.”
