Alltel to return $11.5 million to Georgia

LITTLE ROCK - Alltel Corp. will return nearly $11.5 million in tax credits to the state of Georgia because the telecommunications company hadn&#39;t created the number of jobs it said it would in that state. <br> <br> Little Rock-based Alltel said it would also give up the tax breaks it would have received in the next two years, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Tuesday. <br> <br> ``We&#39;re glad to see that they&#39;re going to live up to their side of the agreement,&#39;&#39; Charles Willey, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Revenue. <br> <br> In 1999, Georgia officials offered Alltel a five-year package of tax incentives worth an estimated $13.5 million. The agreement hinged, though, on the company&#39;s creation of 785 high-paying jobs by 2003. Since entering the deal, Alltel has added about 135 jobs at its Alpharetta facility. <br> <br> The company&#39;s new Georgia headquarters was originally expected to accommodate work on a large contract signed with GTE. Under that agreement, Alltel would have helped GTE redevelop its massive billing system. <br> <br> But soon after the two companies reached the deal, GTE joined a conglomeration of companies now know as Verizon Communications Inc. The contract then was terminated. <br> <br> Alltel spokesman Andrew Moreau referred most questions about the repayment to an Aug. 1 letter from Alltel Executive Vice President Francis Frantz to T. Jerry Jackson, commissioner of Georgia&#39;s revenue department. <br> <br> In the letter, Frantz said, ``Although Alltel has met its capital expenditure commitment, spending over $76 million to build the Alpharetta facility, Alltel cannot project with any significant degree of confidence that it will fulfill its commitment to create 785 new jobs at the facility by year-end 2003.&#39;&#39;

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