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Columbus Council Gives Tax Break To Subsidary Of Company The City Is Suing Over The Opioid Crisis

covermymeds.com

Last December, the City of Columbus filed a lawsuit against McKesson Corporation and other drug distributors and makers for their alleged roles in the opioid crisis. 

Last night, Columbus City Council approved a pair of tax breaks worth up to 83 million dollars for a McKesson subsidary, Columbus-based prescription software company CoverMyMeds, to move its operations from downtown to a new facility on McKinley Avenue. CoverMyMeds gets a 15-year, 100 percent property-tax abatement and an eight-year break on 30 percent of income tax withholdings on new employees. The move will retain 592 jobs and create more than one thousand new ones.Columbus Development Director Steve Schoeny says Columbus City Schools will get nearly 12 million dollars in income tax revenue by agreeing to forego 55.6 million in exchange for a portion of that income-tax revenue the new jobs would create.

Public records show CoverMyMeds CEO Matt Scantland donated more than 114 thousand dollars in the last three years to the campaigns of elected city officials. And community activist Joe Motil says McKesson reported revenue of over 200 billion dollars last year, making it the sixth-wealthiest company in the world.

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Council also approved spending 685 thousand dollars to purchase the Shot Spotter crime fighting technology. Shot Spotter is an electronic ear in the sky that can detect gun fire, the type of gun used, and the location. Assistant Columbus Safety Director Cathy Collins says this is a one-year pilot project that will be tested in specific areas.

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The system is one way the city is responding a record 143 homicides recorded last year. 

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.
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