Century Aluminum shutdown to put Hawesville at revenue loss besides creating unemployment

Century Aluminum facility in Hawesville has already started its idling process from Monday, June 27. According to Mike Baker, Director of Economic Development for the Industrial Foundation, the shut down of the plant is hurting a lion share of revenue in the region, besides creating unemployment.

To support this belief, Baker has further noted that Century Aluminum accounts for nearly $1 million of the country’s tax revenue.

”Hopefully this will be a temporary set back. Obviously we count on our industry for financial support for this community. Our industrial base is the economic engine of our community,” said Baker.

Although Century officials are projecting the shutdown to last for nine to twelve months, Baker is worried about the future. According to him, “That’s a long time for a major industry to close its doors. So yes, we’re cautiously optimistic. Again, there are so many factors impacting inflation, cost of gas, cost of power, and those are the key elements that are driving this development at Century in terms of their power cost.”

Baker further calculates how this shutdown would affect the community in Hawesville. He says Hancock County has an occupation tax of 1.6 per cent, so making 600 people jobless  will disturb the revenue of the region.

”The type of payroll and the type of wages that are paid, a lot of money is injected into the surrounding area and into our community through the weekly payroll,” said Baker. So, that has a huge impact. It affects businesses all up and down the scale.”

Baker has also said that the country has not yet figured out ways to offset the revenue that it is losing from Century Aluminum’s operation.