County stays silent about identity of business involved in Project Bench

The identity of the company behind Project Bench is still shrouded in mystery.

There was no discussion on the potential investment Tuesday because Aiken County Council deleted from its meeting agenda the ordinance amending financial incentives for Project Bench. It also deleted the ordinance issuing general obligations to fund Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations capital projects and the new County Complex.

No one spoke during the public hearing on Project Bench, either.

Aiken County Administrator Clay Killian said the reason the ordinances were pulled from consideration Tuesday is because the contracts spelling out the financial agreements in both cases are still being drawn up.

"In the case of Project Bench, it's not because of any problems with the deal," he said.

Very little information on Project Bench has been made public.

What is known about the project is that it is an expansion of an existing industry, according to Aiken County documents. Aiken County entered into a fee-in-lieu of agreement and an infrastructure financing agreement with the company behind Project Bench in 2010 and now is considering amending those agreements to provide further financial incentives for the expansion project.

Final reading of the ordinance relating to Project Bench is expected to go before Council on March 6.

Second reading of the ordinance issuing general obligation bonds is also expected to go before Council on March 6.

The general obligation bonds, or some variation thereof, would help fund the construction of the new office complex on University Parkway and would pay back the $12 million Aiken County borrowed in October to provide incentives to Bridgestone. The incentives included the purchase of more than 500 acres in Sage Mill Industrial Park for Bridgestone's new 1.5 million-square-foot plant and the development of a construction road into the site.

As for the County Complex, the County is anticipating borrowing $26 million to fund the project. The County plans to supplement the bonds with Capital Project Sales Tax revenue and other contingency money.

Haley Hughes has spent five years as the Aiken County government reporter with the Aiken Standard. Hughes, a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, hails from Knoxville, Tenn.