City of Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil states, “CoverMyMeds announced today that it will be cutting 815 jobs nationwide, converting 1,100 employees to fulltime remote work, and plans to sublease portions of its 200,000 square foot Columbus headquarters for office space.”
Motil continues, “Columbus taxpayers need to be reminded that on July 25, 2018, CoverMyMeds received one of if not the largest tax abatement handouts in our city’s history of $77,741,415. This corporate pork chop to one of the wealthiest corporations in the nation. The McKesson Corporation, will result in the loss of $55 million that should have gone towards providing revenue to educate our children in Columbus Public Schools. I testified against this tax abatement in City Council Chambers in July of 2018 as I have against dozens of other corporate gifts over the last 8 years.”
Motil further states, “This unnecessary and excessive tax break enraged the Columbus Education Association whose hundreds of members and supporters (including myself) protested through the streets of downtown Columbus. This tax giveaway by Ginther is one of many that contributed to the Columbus City School teachers strike in the summer of 2022. Since he has been mayor, Ginther has handed out no less than $617 million in tax abatements. And the fact he received $52,500 from CoverMyMeds employees undoubtedly played into his selling out the taxpayers and educational opportunities of our city’s children.”
Motil says, “As part of the 2018 tax abatement deal, CoverMyMeds promised to retain 592 existing full-time jobs and create approximately 1,032 net new full-time permanent positions by December 31, 2022. According to Zippia, on February 6, 2023 CoverMyMeds Columbus had a workforce of 1336 employees. This would be well short of the required 1,624 full-time employees per their tax abatement agreement with the City of Columbus. With the likelihood of job cuts and more workers being assigned remotely at the Columbus CoverMyMeds headquarters, the loss of promised income tax revenue to our city coffers will be significantly reduced. And you can bet that Ginther and company will not penalize CoverMyMeds for defaulting on their job promises. The agreement will merely be modified and the tax abatement will continue. That’s The Columbus Way.”
Motil concludes, “And to further muddy this tax abatement deal, the phase one and phase two CoverMyMeds office buildings have been sold to real estate investors. One to the Qatar First Bank and the other to a real estate investment firm located in northern Virginia. One has to wonder just how much longer CoverMyMeds plans to stay in Columbus.”
