Chemicals Supplier Rebounds from Fire
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
20090831-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 8/28/2009 6:18 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com AUGUST 2009 HOLIDAY EDITION $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2009 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved Page 3 Auto industry retirees see incomes plummet Property in bankruptcies’ wake tax shortfall NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS “If we didn’t get back online quickly, (we were) going to lose customers,” said Chairman and CEO George Hill after fire consumed a 20,000-square-foot building at Diversified Chemical Technologies on Aug. 24. County budgets slammed Metro fashion fans have BY CHAD HALCOM from a labor force of more than high hopes for world-class CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS 4,100 employees, although decid- ing which jobs land on the cutting annual event Southeast Michigan real estate floor is still subject to labor nego- Chemicals supplier will lose around $20 billion, or 10 tiations and some department percent of its aggregate taxable head recommendations, said WARNed too late? State value, in 2010 — leaving county Wayne County Deputy Executive services not enough to governments scrambling to bal- Azzam Elder. ance budgets by slashing employ- “This economy has been pretty rescue troubled companies ee wages, work hours and even unforgiving,” Elder said. rebounds from fire jobs. Also looking for union conces- Taxable property values in sions is Oakland County, which will Inside Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, begin negotiations to take 5 per- Planning, fast Washtenaw and Livingston coun- cent off wages over the next two On the Grow: ties all declined in 2009, most of years after the Board of Commis- them for the first time in decades. sioners’ Finance Committee voted Acquisitions boost business response keep All five counties project those 7-3 last week in favor of a budget for Guardian Alarm, Page 8 losses will accelerate next year, proposal with those cuts. business going and they want concessions from That measure goes to the full employees to help balance next board for review Sept. 24, and the Innovation Index: See where BY NANCY KAFFER year’s budget. first of the cuts, at 2.5 percent, CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS The Wayne County Board of would go into effect with the new state stands on economic Commissioners last week voted budget year Oct. 1. The major plant fire seen by 13-2 to approve a budget of rough- Oakland County Executive L. indicators, thousands on TV last Monday ly $2.1 billion for fiscal 2010, Brooks Patterson said he does not Page 8 could have knocked Diversified which begins Oct. 1. But the coun- plan to propose any layoffs among Chemical Technologies out of busi- ty projects it will lose 9 percent, or the county’s 3,600 or so full-time ness. Arnold Joseff, president of Diversified $4.6 billion, of the value on its cur- employees. But he and Macomb Instead, the Detroit-based sup- Chemical Technologies, likened his rent $51 billion tax base of real County Commission Chairman plier of packaging adhesives, company to a phoenix that would rise and personal property. Paul Gieleghem said property val- Artisans coatings and recycled polymeric from the ashes. The revenue shortfall means materials didn’t lose a customer. the county could cut up to 538 jobs See Counties, Page 4 stay sharp Chairman and CEO George Hill, to make most President Arnold Joseff and the The fire, which broke out in Diversified team worked a disas- Building 4 around 3 p.m., sent TAXABLE PROPERTY VALUES of Michigan ter recovery plan that helped it clouds of smoke billowing across notify customers within hours of the city. 2009 Change 2010* Change Renaissance Festival the Aug. 24 blaze and find tempo- Firefighters battled the blaze Wayne County $51 billion -3.7% $46.4 billion -9% sales opportunities, rary production facilities in Fern- for hours. The roughly 20,000- Oakland County $62.4 billion -3.6% $54.3 billion -13.3% dale. square-foot building was a loss, Macomb County $31.1 billion -3% $28 billion -10% Page 9 Hill and Joseff say that thanks but none of Diversified’s employ- Livingston County $8 billion -10% $7.2 billion -10% ees were harmed, and the smoke to the team’s speedy response, the Washtenaw County $15.3 billion -2% $14.2 billion -7.5% was deemed nontoxic by the Michi- company hasn’t lost a client and * Projected production will resume within gan Department of Environmental Source: County government equalization or finance departments five business days. See Fire, Page 5 Snake eyes: Small donations = big fines from gaming board “ People inadvertently BY DANIEL DUGGAN pany does excavating and utility Freedom of Information Act. “It is so broad that people inad- get caught CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS work for the three Detroit casi- Michigan is one of five states to vertently get caught up,” he said. nos. prohibit political contributions “Even the most innocent of activi- up. Even In January 2008, Kerlin Blaise “I’m kicking myself a million by gaming licensees, according to ties can be a violation.” gave $100 to the Michigan Infra- times,” he said. “It just slipped data compiled by East Lansing- Also given fines were: the most structure & Transportation Associa- my mind.” based Regulatory Management Robert Thompson, a well- innocent of tion. Blaze was one of seven compa- Counselors P.C., a casino regula- known local philanthropist who But as that $100 donation nies hit with fines for political tion compliance consulting firm. gave $3,400 to the Committee to Re- activities turned into a $4,000 fine, Blaise contributions by the Michigan And the violations underscore Elect Justice Clifford Taylor. Thomp- started wishing he hadn’t. Gaming Control Board earlier this how strict the state’s regulations son’s Trenton-based Michigan can be a President of Detroit-based Blaze month; netting a total of $60,000 are for gaming, said Robert Stock- Foundation Co., a concrete compa- Contracting Inc., Blaise is not al- for the state of Michigan, accord- er, a member of Detroit-based ny, is a supplier for casinos; the violation. lowed to make any type of politi- ing to state documents obtained Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C. and chair ” cal contribution because his com- by Crain’s through the state’s of the law firm’s gaming practice. See Gaming, Page 4 Robert Stocker, Dickinson Wright DBpageAD.qxd 8/27/2009 3:03 PM Page 1 20090831-NEWS--0003-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 8/28/2009 6:04 PM Page 1 August 31, 2009 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 3 Retired execs’ incomes plunge Focus: Digital Media and was CEO from 1999 to 2000. Search engine competition Auto industry bankruptcies hurt pensions, stock “You’re going to see changes in the way people changes game – and costs BY DAVID BARKHOLZ Holden and Thompson, who companies. view charities CRAIN NEWS SERVICE were highly paid during decades of Court-sanctioned cuts have or spend on SUPPLIERS – for businesses, Page 11. work at nearly wiped their kids.” The rules: Stock Jim Holden won’t be writing a Chrysler, out the pen- On top of requirements hurt five-figure check to the United are among Everybody sions of high- that, senior ex- execs, Page 6 Way this year — something the thousands of “ ranking retired ecutives have Bonuses: Plans Chrysler former CEO has done auto- retired auto is hunkering executives at seen the col- opposed, Page 6 matically in recent years. executives Delphi and led lapse of stock Jack Thompson, who headed who face down. to drastic re- holdings accumulated over life- computer-aided engineering and drastically ” ductions for times of service. concept development at Chrysler reduced re- Jim Holden, retiree former GM and Few retired executives want to before retiring in 2003, recently tirement Chrysler exec- talk for the record about their per- canceled a trip to Europe and has benefits and utives. sonal losses. But Detroit is full of Company index stopped sending money to his a scaled-down future in light of “Everybody is hunkering tales of former high earners sell- daughter in Brazil, where she bankruptcies at Chrysler, General down,” said Holden, a sales execu- These organizations appear in this week’s Crain’s works as a missionary. Motors Co., Delphi Corp. and other tive who spent 19 years at Chrysler See Retired, Page 6 Detroit Business: AGIS . 13 Archangel Steel Crafts . 9 Biggby Coffee . 12 Blaze Contracting . 1 Bosquett & Co. 7 By time WARN sent, Brogan & Partners Convergence Marketing . 13 Buzzphoria . 13 City style Chrysler . 3 Compsat Security . 4 Compuware Corp. 5 Fashion event aims to be national hit state aid often futile Delphi . 3 Detroit Fashion Week . 3 Detroit Institute of Arts . 5 Y ABE ELSON line, called “PS. Peter Soro- B G N Detroit Media Partnership . 5 SPECIAL TO CRAIN’S nen,” at the inaugural Fashion Layoff, closing notices up in ’09 Detroit Lions . 13 DETROIT BUSINESS in Detroit event, scheduled Oct. Dickinson Wright. 1 1-2 at the Detroit Zoo. BY CHAD HALCOM ashion designer Peter “It was something new and CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Diversified Chemical Technologies . 1 Soronen, a Farmington exciting for Detroit, and I just When we receive Dream Weaver . 9 F Hills native, hasn’t done wanted to be part of it,” Soro- A state initiative to help ailing “ Fashion in Detroit . 3 a show in the Detroit area in nen said. companies diversify into growth a WARN notice, our Ford Motor Co. 6 more than 20 years. With six times the budget of industry segments may be a case General Motors . 3 But Soronen, whose high- five-year-old Detroit Fashion of too little, too late for businesses staff does contact the George P.