Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Adam Bednar – Patch: City Lawmakers Debate Bottle Tax After Pepsi Job Loss

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Adam Bednar – Patch: City Lawmakers Debate Bottle Tax After Pepsi Job Loss

Patch: City Lawmakers Debate Bottle Tax After Pepsi Job Loss

Pepsi Beverages Company said the controversial tax played a part in halting manufacturing in Hampden. http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/city-lawmakers-debate-bottle-tax-after-pepsi-job-loss

By Adam Bednar | Email the author | January 11, 2011

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City lawmakers who represent North Baltimore are still split on whether approving a 2-cent bottle tax was the correct move after Pepsi Beverages Company announced it was halting manufacturing at its Hampden plant partly because of the tax.

Kristine Hinck, a Pepsi spokeswoman, acknowledged the tax played a role in the company’s decision to eliminate 77 jobs at the plant on Union Avenue.

“We look at factors we control internally, and also the external environment where we manufacture. Baltimore's beverage tax certainly hasn't helped the situation,” Hinck wrote in an e-mail to North Baltimore Patch. “At the end of the day, we have to look at where our costs are. When there's a beverage tax in place, it impacts our retailers' ability to sell product.”

The company announced Monday that it was halting manufacturing at the plant, but other functions will continue at the site and 318 people will continue to be employed there.

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http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/city-lawmakers-debate-bottle-tax-after-pepsi-job-loss

20110111 Bednar Patch Lawmakers Debate Tx After Pepsi Loss

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