No WhiteWash!

Bluff City is a city without a mayor or vice mayor.  In fact they have had four mayors resign over the past two years.   Warning, they want your money.

BRISTOL, Tenn. — While Bristol Motor Speedway officials are fretting that Bluff City’s new speed cameras on U.S. Highway 11E might upset and alienate unsuspecting race visitors, city officials said Wednesday that the controversial detectors will be operating during the March 19-21 race weekend. Read more via Bristol fans, beware: Cameras will be on Speedway weekend » Knoxville News Sentinel.

A new survey from Gallup and Franklin-based Healthways Inc shows that the Kingsport area is ranked as the bottom ten cities for overall well being.  It appears that the physical, emotional, social and professional aspects of folks in the Kingsport area has helped drag the State of Tennessee to its low scores.

I wonder how our elected leaders will “spin” this study to make themselves look good.  Maybe, they might try even more to spend more money to help their cause.  So far the out of control spending for pet projects by our local elected officials has not seemed to work.

The Kingsport area has managed to get lots of national media attention with this study.

Nashville-area residents have the highest well-being among Tennesseans, although the state as a whole continues to rank near the bottom nationally when it comes to overall quality of life.

That’s the conclusion of two reports published today by Gallp and Franklin-based Healthways Inc. The reports are based on more than 350,000 surveys completed in 2009 that measure how respondents are faring in all aspects of their daily lives: physically, emotionally, socially and professionally.

Nashville ranks 63rd among 185 cities nationwide in the city-level report, up 22 spots from 2008. In report-card terms, that’s the equivalent of a B. Memphis and Knoxville scored Ds, while Chattanooga and Kingsport both graded an F.

In fact, Kingsport ranks among the bottom 10 cities nationwide in overall well-being, scoring dead last in the categories of life evaluation and physical health. Fort Smith, Ark., came in last overall, while Boulder, Colo. topped the list.

In the state-level report, Tennessee ranks 42nd, the same as in 2008. The bright spot was work environment, where the state ranks 12th. Hawaii had the highest well-being among states, while West Virginia had the lowest.

Gallup and Healthways published state and congressional district rankings for 2008. But this is the first time since polling began in January 2008 that city rankings have been announced.

“It’s our hope that these rankings are not treated as competition, but as a wake-up call,” said Anne Wilkins, Healthways’ chief strategy officer. “Even the highest-ranked cities and states have room for improvement, and hopefully communities can look at these rankings and figure out how to improve the lives of their citizens.”

Gallup and Healthways entered into a 25-year partnership in 2008 with the goal of creating an official statistic for the daily state of health and well-being in the United States.

Aggregating 1,000 calls a day, 350 days a year, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is the largest behavioral economic database ever created and is expected to generate more than 9 million individual responses over the next quarter-century.

Healthways provides specialized, comprehensive medical solutions for insurers and employers to help patients manage and improve their health and reduce health care costs.

The company ranks No. 16 on Nashville Business Journal’s list of largest public companies in Middle Tennessee with revenue of $789.5 million in 2008.

Best and worst

Top 10 Cities Overall 1. Boulder, Colo. 2. Holland, Mich. 3. Honolulu, Hawaii 4. Provo, Utah 5. Santa Rosa, Calif. 6. Santa Barbara, Calif. 7. San Jose, Calif. 8. Washington, D.C. 9. Ogden, Utah 10. Oxnard, Calif.

Bottom 10 Cities Overall 1. Fort Smith, Ark. 2. Huntington, W. Va. 3. Lake Havasu City, Ariz. 4. Johnstown, Penn. 5. Modesto, Calif. 6. Charleston, W.Va. 7. Flint, Mich. 8. Youngstown, Ohio 9. Kingsport, Tenn. 10. Shreveport, La.

Top 10 States Overall 1. Hawaii 2. Utah 3. Montana 4. Minnesota 5. Iowa 6. Vermont 7. Colorado 8. Alaska 9. North Dakota 10. Kansas

Bottom 10 States Overall 1. West Virginia 2. Kentucky 3. Arkansas 4. Ohio 5. Nevada 6. Alabama 7. Indiana 8. Mississippi 9. Tennessee 10. Louisiana

Source: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index City and State Reports

via Healthways, Gallup: Tennesseans’ well-being lags, boosted by Nashville – Nashville Business Journal:.

 

Note the rankings below for Kingsport.  The number of cities studied in 185.  Kingsport came in dead last in “Life Evaluation” and “Physical Health”.  Kingsport’s overall score is 179 out of 185.  Click on the link below for more information on the Tennessee study.

2009 City, State & Congressional District Well-Being Report for Tennessee

 

King College, a denominational college located in Bristol, Tennessee, has been in discussions with Kingsport, Bristol, and Sullivan County officials to build a medical school in Kingsport and Bristol.

The cost for the medical school would be about $150 million.  King is looking for $50 million to come from the cities of Kingsport ($40 million) and Bristol ($10 million), $50 million from the State of Tennessee, and the remaining $50 million from private donations.

At the July 7, 2009, Kingsport, Tennessee Board of Mayor and Alderman, a resolution was passed on first reading to endorse the King College Medical School Initiative, and pledged its commitment to work with Bristol, Sullivan County, and King College to advance the project.

While it does sound like a good project for the area, there will be a major impact on the taxpayers if this is funded via a property tax increase.

Mayor Dennis Phillips has stated that if Kingsport were to fund $40 million for the project, property taxes would have to be raised 25 cents.

Below are tax rates that have been extracted from the Tennessee Property Tax Rates that show the top 20 cities that have the highest tax rates in Tennessee from 406 different tax rates for the different cities and counties.

I have added 25 cents to the tax rates for the two Kingsport line items (Kingsport-Sullivan and Kingsport-Hawkins) in the table below.  Kingsport, with the 25 cents added, would have a rank of 10 and 12 as having the most expensive tax rates in the state.  Bristol has a rank of 14 and I have no knowledge if they would increase property taxes.

Top 20 Cities with the most expensive property tax rates

R a n k	County	City	Total County and City Tax	Property Tax for $150k Home	Household Median Income	% Taxes from Household Income	Median Home Value
1	SHELBY	MEMPHIS	$7.29	$2,734	$32,285	8.47%	$130,695
2	SHELBY	GERMANTOWN	$5.63	$2,111	$113,733	1.86%	$278,800
3	SHELBY	BARTLETT	$5.63	$2,111	$74,091	2.85%	$164,600
4	KNOX	KNOXVILLE	$5.50	$2,063	$32,538	6.34%	$102,300
5	ANDERSON	OAK RIDGE	$5.45	$2,044	$45,474	4.49%	$120,100
6	SHELBY	COLLIERVILLE	$5.37	$2,014	$99,239	2.03%	$255,400
7	HAMILTON	CHATTANOOGA	$5.36	$2,009	$35,913	5.59%	$121,100
8	SHELBY	MILLINGTON	$5.32	$1,995	$43,753	4.56%	$124,144
9	MADISON	HUMBOLDT	$5.30	$1,988	$50,007	3.98%	$181,800
10	HAWKINS	KINGSPORT	$5.11*	$1,916	$34,391	5.57%	$99,900
11	SHELBY	ARLINGTON	$5.09	$1,909	$59,131	3.23%	$233,597
12	SULLIVAN	KINGSPORT	$5.08*	$1,905	$34,391	5.54%	$99,900
13	ROANE	OAK RIDGE	$5.04	$1,890	$45,474	4.16%	$120,100
14	SULLIVAN	BRISTOL	$5.03	$1,886	$36,454	5.17%	$94,000
15	MORGAN	OAKDALE	$4.98	$1,868	$32,174	5.81%	$47,502
16	COFFEE	MANCHESTER	$4.96	$1,860	$36,674	5.07%	$112,275
17	HAMILTON	LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN	$4.95	$1,858	$117,767	1.58%	$515,354
18	HAMILTON	RIDGESIDE	$4.95	$1,858	$103,995	1.79%	$293,387
19	LAUDERDALE	HENNING	$4.95	$1,856	$23,407	7.93%	$65,212
20	HAMILTON	SIGNAL MOUNTAIN	$4.93	$1,848	$78,175	2.36%	$283,948

* The current city and county combined tax rate for Kingsport-Sullivan County is $4.86 and Kingsport-Hawkins County is $4.86.  Twenty-five cents has been added to each of the Kingsport tax rates in the above table.

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The table below again shows the top 20 cites and the effect on the taxpayers’ Household Median Income.  There appears to be a disconnect with those cities having a high tax rate, lower Household Median Income and the percentage of Household Income needed to pay property taxes.

The household median income for Kingsport is $34,391 and the Kingsport majority of Kingsport property owners would pay over 5.5 percent of household income ($150k home) for property taxes if  the 25 cents is added to the Kingsport tax rate.  The Kingsport rank is 6 and 7 and Bristol comes in at a rank of 8 in the table below for the largest percent of household income needed to pay property taxes.

A taxpayer funded medical school would reduce the already low Kingsport household income and would reduce the standard of living for the majority of Kingsport citizens so the city could reap the benefits of increased revenue to spend on other pet projects.

Top 20 Cities that take the highest percentage of income for property taxes

R a n k	County	City	Total County and City Tax	Property Tax for $150k Home	Household Median Income	% Taxes from Household Income	Median Home Value
1	SHELBY	MEMPHIS	$7.29	$2,734	$32,285	8.47%	$130,695
2	LAUDERDALE	HENNING	$4.95	$1,856	$23,407	7.93%	$65,212
3	KNOX	KNOXVILLE	$5.50	$2,063	$32,538	6.34%	$102,300
4	MORGAN	OAKDALE	$4.98	$1,868	$32,174	5.81%	$47,502
5	HAMILTON	CHATTANOOGA	$5.36	$2,009	$35,913	5.59%	$121,100
6	HAWKINS	KINGSPORT	$5.11*	$1,916	$34,391	5.57%	$99,900
7	SULLIVAN	KINGSPORT	$5.08*	$1,905	$34,391	5.54%	$99,900
8	SULLIVAN	BRISTOL	$5.03	$1,886	$36,454	5.17%	$94,000
9	COFFEE	MANCHESTER	$4.96	$1,860	$36,674	5.07%	$112,275
10	SHELBY	MILLINGTON	$5.32	$1,995	$43,753	4.56%	$124,144
11	ANDERSON	OAK RIDGE	$5.45	$2,044	$45,474	4.49%	$120,100
12	ROANE	OAK RIDGE	$5.04	$1,890	$45,474	4.16%	$120,100
13	MADISON	HUMBOLDT	$5.30	$1,988	$50,007	3.98%	$181,800
14	SHELBY	ARLINGTON	$5.09	$1,909	$59,131	3.23%	$233,597
15	SHELBY	BARTLETT	$5.63	$2,111	$74,091	2.85%	$164,600
16	HAMILTON	SIGNAL MOUNTAIN	$4.93	$1,848	$78,175	2.36%	$283,948
17	SHELBY	COLLIERVILLE	$5.37	$2,014	$99,239	2.03%	$255,400
18	SHELBY	GERMANTOWN	$5.63	$2,111	$113,733	1.86%	$278,800
19	HAMILTON	RIDGESIDE	$4.95	$1,858	$103,995	1.79%	$293,387
20	HAMILTON	LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN	$4.95	$1,858	$117,767	1.58%	$515,354

* The current city and county combined tax rate for Kingsport-Sullivan County is $4.86 and Kingsport-Hawkins County is $4.86.  Twenty-five cents has been added to each of the Kingsport tax rates in the above table.

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I have heard some members of the Kingsport BMA express their desire to have a college located in Kingsport.  They should keep in mind that there are very large number of cities that have been successful without having a college and who also have a better standard of living than Kingsport.

College Cities	Household Median Income
Knoxville	$32,538
Bristol	$36,454
Chattanooga	$35,913
Johnson City	$35,746
Memphis	$35,181

The above cities that have a college appear not to have increased the standard of living and have a low household median income.

Below is the household income distribution for Kingsport and the household median income for Kingsport is $34,391.  In the graph below there are 2,636 people who earn less than $10,000  classifying them as living in poverty.

I challenge the elected officials to venture outside of their social and political groups and try to understand the plight of the majority of wage earners in the Kingsport area.  The medical school would bring jobs, but some of these jobs will be imported jobs and the common folks would not have the background or training for these jobs.  Ask what you can do to raise the standard of living (higher income) for Kingsport citizens without imposing a property tax burden.

I feel that the taxpayers should not be taking the risk of funding a medical school when there already is a state funded one in Johnson City.  The need for doctors in this area is questionable since the population is declining in Sullivan County.  If they area has trouble attracting doctors or keeping doctors, then take a hard look at the reason.

Quality of Life issues are important, but a good Standard of Living for local folks just might make the area prosper by increased spending by the majority of citizens.

The bottom line is that the area needs good paying jobs without the additional burden on the taxpayers.

I need to point out that no funding has been voted on so far, but projects such as this grows legs very fast and then its then to late to react.  The intent of this post is to make you aware of the issues so you can make your views know.  Update:  Many elected officials have expressed their support of this project including Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey who may make it a part of his campaign for governor.  Again, I must point out that I am not against the project but am very concerned about it being funded by taxpayers.

Please contact your elected officials and tell them NO to a taxpayer funded denominational medical school.  Click on the email links below and add your comments in your own email program.

email Kingsport BMA -  Mayor Dennis Phillips -  Vice Mayor Ben Mallicote -  Alderman Larry Munsey -  Alderman Jantry Shupe -  Alderwoman Valerie Joh -  Alderman Ken Marsh, Jr. -  Alderman Tom Parham	email Tennessee Legislators for area -  Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey -  Senator Mike Faulk -  Rep. Jason E. Mumpower -  Rep. Tony Shipley -  Rep. Jon Lundberg -  Rep. Dale Ford
email Sullivan County Commissioners See list for -  Commissioners individual emails or -  email Mayor and all Sullivan County Commissioners	email this post to a friend
email Candidates for Tennessee Governor -  Mike McWherter -  Roy Herron -  Ward Cammack -  Zack Wamp -  Bill Haslam -  Ron Ramsey -  Kim McMillan -  Jim Kyle

Sullivan County, Tennessee and its cities have a problem with a declining population.  This has been a problem since year 2000 and Sullivan County comes out as the loser as keeping the population.  Elected leaders need to ask some hard questions why this is occurring and make changes to stop this trend.  Elected leaders may be faced with cutting services or raise taxes because of reduced revenue coming in.  However, cutting services or raising taxes and not addressing the problem would show that the elected leaders is not capable of handling the problem.

In the table below are the top 11 Tennessee Counties and their population rank based on state population estimates.  Sullivan County goes from a year 2000 rank of 6 to a rank of 11 in year 2030.

Rank	2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025	2030
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11	Shelby Davidson Knox Hamilton Rutherford Sullivan Montgomery Sumner Williamson Washington Blount	Shelby Davidson Knox Hamilton Rutherford Sullivan Williamson Montgomery Sumner Blount Washington	Shelby Davidson Knox Hamilton Rutherford Williamson Sumner Montgomery Sullivan Blount Washington	Shelby Davidson Knox Hamilton Rutherford Williamson Sumner Montgomery Sullivan Blount Wilson	Shelby Davidson Knox Rutherford Hamilton Williamson Sumner Montgomery Blount Sullivan Wilson	Shelby Davidson Knox Rutherford Hamilton Williamson Sumner Montgomery Blount Wilson Sullivan	Shelby Davidson Knox Rutherford Hamilton Williamson Sumner Montgomery Blount Wilson Sullivan

Below are graphs for selected East Tennessee county and city population estimates.  In the “County Population Estimates”, all counties are showing growth while Sullivan County is showing a decline.

The “City Population Estimates” graph shows population growth for all cities except Sullivan County cities, Kingsport and Bristol.

Data for the above is from the State of Tennessee via the links below.

Population Projections for the State of Tennessee

TACIR, in conjunction with The University of Tennessee Center for Business and Economic Research, has published a new report containing population projections for Tennessee cities and counties in five-year intervals from 2010 to 2030. The purpose of the projections is to aid in local planning efforts, such as those outlined in Public Chapter 1101 (PC1101). The complete report and tables are available below.

Population Projections for the State of Tennessee, 2010 to 2030

Population Projection Tables HTML | EXCEL

• Aggregate Projections for Tennessee HTML | EXCEL
• Aggregate Projections for Tennessee Counties HTML | EXCEL
• Aggregate Projections for Municipalities* Arrayed by County HTML | EXCEL
• Aggregate Projections for Municipalities* Alphabetically HTML | EXCEL
• Aggregate Projections for Municipalities* by Development District HTML | EXCEL
• Aggregate Projections for Tennessee Counties within MSAs HTML | EXCEL

*Does not include the effects of annexations after 2000.

The May, 2009 unemployment rate for the City of Kingsport was 12.6 percent.  Retail sales growth is not keeping up with the inflation rate and Kingsport has a declining population. The Kingsport area, in a recent report by Kiplinger, has the highest cost of living, the lowest household income, and the worst job growth in Tennessee. See the link Kingsport Facts

Kingsport, as I have said many times needs to get industry to locate here that offer good paying jobs.  More retail jobs aren’t needed.  Get the good paying jobs first and then retail jobs will open up.

After giving it much thought, I have come to the collusion that the City of Kingsport, Chamber of Commerce, Networks, and Sullivan County are not capable of getting the type of jobs that the area needs.  I’m sorry that I have to be blunt, but it is the truth and in my view these organizations are nothing more than a social/political club that cater to special interest groups.  Look at the facts!  Sure, there have been some gains, but these have been mostly in the retail/food areas.

We need the involvement of the State of Tennessee to help get jobs here.  The State was able to help Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Clarksville get new manufacturing firms to locate in those cities and North Carolina was able to woo Google and Apple Computer to locate to North Carolina.  North Carolina has changed some of its laws to make it easier for firms to locate to North Carolina.  Because of the changes made at the state level in North Carolina, they will get an Apple Computer $1billion datacenter that will be built not far from the Google datacenter in Lenoir, NC.  North Carolina also gave incentives to get these firms to locate to North Carolina.

Kingsport has relied too long on Eastman and it is time to get other firms here.  Get rid of the mindset that economic growth is retail and get new people in those organizations that can go after manufacturing and technology firms.  The economic development direction that the Kingsport area has been using is quite simple not working.  See the link, Best and Worst Cities in Tennessee

The Higher Education Center is good, but I get the impression that the city thinks that firms will come to the city in droves because we have a bunch of smart cookies here.  Upper Mississippi, I am sure did not wait to build a higher education center to attract car makers or did Lenoir, NC wait to have the type of employees that Google wanted trained before going after the Google business.

The time to act is now!  The population of Kingsport has declined.  Having more educated people trained at the Higher Education Center and the lack of jobs that would be attractive to them will insure that the declining population will get worse as they look elsewhere for employment.

Ask your state, county,and city elected officials what have they done to help spur economic growth for the area.  Ask them for specific results and then you can decide if they are helping the area with good paying job growth.

It was announced on July 6, 2009 that Apple Computer will build a $1 billion data center in Maiden, NC. North Carolina had recently changed its tax law to lure Apple and guided Apple in its site selection areas.

Maiden’s population is around 3,439 and is located in Catawba County, NC and is south of Hickory, NC and is in the Hickory-Lenoir MSA area.

What is amazing about this deal is that the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation went after the data center business.  They marketed the area as a data center area and even had their own website promoting their data center sites. www.datacentersites.com.  They were able to provide the details that a data center would need and offered many locations.

Lenoir, NC, was able get a $600 million Google data center that opened last year that will employ over 200 people.

The area was once known for furniture making, an industry that has taken a hit because of low-wage competition from overseas.  I am very familiar with the Lenoir-Hickory area and have seen the reduction in furniture making and the effect that it had on the local economy.  I have seen the major impact that it had on retail stores as they closed their doors.  Now I see a renewed retail environment with new retail stores opening up.  See link, Google, Lenoir try to adapt to one another

In June, 2009, Ethan Allen, a furniture maker announced that it would add 302 new jobs to its existing 540 employees that it has in Maiden, NC.

Both Apple and Google will pay much higher wages and this should have a impact on the local economy and the house price appreciation rank for Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC is 35 in the nation while Kingsport MSA area is 44.

I might add that Apple and Google did not wait for a Higher Education Center to be built and local people have gone back to school on their own to get the education in hopes to land a job at Google or Apple.

This is great news for North Carolina, but what have our Tennessee elected officials done to spur economic development in East Tennessee? North Carolina and Virginia are both going after the data center business and have incentives to attract data center projects.

MAIDEN – Weeks of speculation ended Monday as Apple Inc. announced plans to build its new $1 billion East Coast data center here.

The California-based technology giant will build the 500,000-square-foot facility at the 183-acre WestStar Mission Critical Business Park off Startown Road near its intersection with U.S. 321.

The data center will employ at least 50 people in full-time information technology positions.

Mike Foulkes, Apple’s director of state and local government affairs, said the company will fill those positions with local people if possible.

Gov. Beverly Perdue’s office has estimated the data center could generate another 250 jobs for people providing services to the plant and more than 3,000 related jobs for the region surrounding the site.

Grading on the project could begin in August, with construction completed and the first employees hired in late 2010.

Read more via Apple to build $1 billion data center in Maiden.

In the second week of April, all candidates were required to turn in their first CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORT to the Sullivan County Election Commission.

This is a matter of Public Record.  Any citizen can request to see them.   It might be interesting to see WHO is giving the big bucks to the Mayor or Alderman candidates.   I think the next report is due around May 9th.

If you live in Sullivan County, Tenn., today is the last day you can register to vote for the May 19 city municipal elections in Bluff City, Bristol and Kingsport.

Early voting is scheduled to begin on April 29 at the Election Commission office in Blountville.

Other early voting locations will open up on May 8 at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium and the Bristol YWCA.

Early voting ends on May 14 for all locations in Sullivan County.

For more information on registering to vote or about the upcoming elections, call the Sullivan County Election Office at: (423) 323-6444.
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Early voting is currently underway in Washington County, Tenn. for the April 28 elections. Early voting will continue through April 23 at the Washington County Courthouse in Jonesborough and at the Downtown Centre in Johnson City.

Polls will be open on the April 28 Election Day from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Read more via Voting Schedules For City Municipal Elections | TriCities.

Eastman Chemical Company followed through on their promise of layoffs today, nearly a month since they first announced that 200 to 300 positions would be eliminated from the company world-wide.

Representatives from Eastman held a brief press conference Monday at Meadowview Conference Center in Kingsport, announcing the beginning of permanent layoffs and a list of more changes this year.

This week, workers at Eastman’s Kingsport plant, one of the region’s largest employers, will receive notices informing them of their severance. An estimated 200 of 7,000 employees will be eliminated.

Read more via Eastman Comes Through On Promise Of Layoffs | TriCities.

It has been reported that Exide Battery will layoff over 500 employees at the Bristol, Tennessee plant.

The Exide web pages state the following.

“Exide Technologies, with operations in more than 80 countries, is one of the world’s largest producers and recyclers of lead-acid batteries. The Company’s four global business groups – Transportation Americas, Transportation Europe and Rest of World, Industrial Energy Americas and Industrial Energy Europe and Rest of World – provide a comprehensive range of stored electrical energy products and services for industrial and transportation applications.

Transportation markets include original-equipment and aftermarket automotive, heavy-duty truck, agricultural and marine applications, and new technologies for hybrid vehicles and automotive applications. Industrial markets include network power applications such as telecommunications systems, electric utilities, railroads, photovoltaic (solar-power related) and uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and motive-power applications including lift trucks, mining and other commercial vehicles. “

See the links below for more information.

WJHL News Channel 11

Exide employees told News Channel 11 the company is laying off hundreds at its Bristol facility.

News Channel 11 is on the scene and saw employees filing out of the plant. We spoke with several workers who told us Exide was cutting 557 employees and scaling back to one shift.

Exide has not made a comment on the cuts.

News Channel 11 will continue to follow this breaking story and have the latest at Noon, 5 and 6pm.

 

Workers report major layoff at Bristol’s Exide  Kingsport Times-News

Exide Corporation Battery Plant in Bristol, Tenn., is meeting with its employees today and according to early reports will lay off more than 500 people.

Workers who were in the 8 a.m. meeting and asked to remain anonymous said production will be cut from about 18,000 to 20,000 batteries a day to 6,000 a day.

Exide’s public relations contact, Jeannine F. Addams, confirmed that Exide is meeting today with employees. She said the company will not provide a public statement until those talks are concluded.
After the layoffs, which have not been announced by the state yet, Exide would have a little more than 250 employees.