No one is celebrating today in the emptying buildings of Delphi manufacturing complex off U.S. 31.

Despite word Tuesday night that its former parent company General Motors had purchased the steering division of Delphi Corp., local employees knew their situation would not improve.

The closure of the Limestone County plant, where auto steering components are made, was announced in 2007 and was to occur this month. However, closure was extended to June 30 as operations are phased out.

Vaughn Goodwin of Local 2195, who also is mayor of the small city of Trinity in Morgan County, said too much of the local plant already has been moved under a plan to consolidate with a Saginaw, Mich., plant.

“The decision had already been made to consolidate with Saginaw and we’re so far under way … We’ve already moved out most of the machines,” Goodwin said. “We’re so far gone.”

Delphi Corp. went into bankruptcy protection in October 2005 and officials said the sale of its steering operations back to GM is part of its efforts to emerge from bankruptcy protection.





Work force



A once burgeoning staff that numbered more than 4,000 but was down to about 1,900 when closure was announced now stands at about 600, Goodwin said.

“We’ll be losing about another 150 by the end of month,” he said. “Out of those 150, probably 100 are going to Springhill and the rest will be laid off.”

The plan to move some local employees to GM’s Saturn plant in Springhill, Tenn., was agreed upon when closure was announced and is not a result of this sale, Goodwin said.

The staff will continue to decrease before leveling off until closure, he said.

“As far as employment numbers, we’ll get down to 300 or a little less by April and stay at that number until mid- to late June,” he said. “It changes from day to day as the (auto) market continues to fall. No one needs parts.”

Those who were laid off over the course of the past 18 months or so are having trouble finding other jobs, Goodwin said.

“The last ones I’ve spoken to have not been able to find anything,” he said. “I know there are some people going through tough times and some who landed on their feet. It’s a mixed bag. But everybody knows the union is still here to help in whatever way we can. I still talk to quite a few of them.”

Goodwin is feeling the pinch himself. He will stay until the plant closes and was hoping to then find a job in Morgan County so his family could stay and he could fulfill duties as Trinity’s mayor. He has been unable to find work locally, however, and may have to commute to Springhill.



Tax revenues



Tax revenues will not be greatly impacted by closure of Delphi because the plant’s real estate was exempt from taxes, said Revenue Commissioner Brian Patterson. Under old laws, the company was listed under the umbrella of the Industrial Development Board, which allowed the exemption.

However, Delphi does pay taxes on its personal property. While a listing of that property is not public record under state law, Patterson said the total amount paid in taxes on that property is public record.

In October 2008, taxes were paid based on property that existed in the plants in October 2007, before much of the consolidation began.

At that time, Delphi paid $130,174 in taxes, Patterson said. Of that, $28,204 went to the state, $58,578 to Limestone County and $43,390 to schools. School allocations were broken down into various amounts, with an unknown sum going to city schools.

Jonathan Craft, chief financial officer of Limestone County Schools, said school board members have not discussed how the loss of those funds will impact next year’s budget.

“We haven’t had any discussion about it at this point,” he said.





Real estate



Tom Hill, president of Limestone County Economic Development Association, said once operations cease, three buildings would be empty on the Delphi campus. One building, known as Local Plant 22, is owned by the state. It has 661,000 square feet.

“We’ve been marketing the state-owned middle building on the state Web site, our Web site and the TVA Web site,” Hill said. Visit LCEDA “available locations” page at http://www.lceda.com/Available_Locations/Available_Buildings/index.html for more information.

“If GM ends up owning the other buildings, I’m sure they’ll hire a real estate company to help with marketing,” Hill said.