FLINT -- Sickly sweet smoke from the sugarcane fields of Florida -- locals call it the smell of money -- flows all the way to this impoverished Michigan city.
That's because four Flint charities own nearly half the stock of U.S. Sugar Corp., the nation's biggest and oldest grower of cane.
And now, with the company poised to sell most of its land to Florida in a deal expected to be approved Tuesday, the charities stand to reap $333 million from the transaction.
But the windfall could be delayed indefinitely by several legal challenges and opposition that seems to grow by the day.
In the meantime, the charities operate without U.S. Sugar stock dividends, which were suspended by the financially struggling company in April.
"Times are bad," said Rosalind Jackson, 33, a homeless woman staying at the Shelter of Flint, which receives funding from several of the charities. "We need all the help we can get."
Among those opposing the deal are residents of Clewiston, the Florida community that is home to U.S. Sugar.
For 77 years, the company has been the dominant employer and taxpayer in the small burg, which bills itself as "America's Sweetest Town."
The land sale would lead to the closing of U.S. Sugar and devastate a county that has the highest unemployment rate in the state -- 14 percent.
"It's just not good," said Butch Wilson, 57, a Clewiston Museum director who was laid off by the company last year after 32 years. "It's not good for the company. It's not good for the town."
Clewiston's looming loss puts Flint in an awkward position.
The Michigan city knows all about company towns that lose their companies. It has been devastated by the quarter-century-long departure of General Motors Corp.
But now one depressed city stands to gain from another depressed city's loss of its main employer.
"Nobody ever wants to profit from other people's loss," said John Manse, director of the North End Soup Kitchen, a Flint agency that receives grants from several of the charities.
Two of the Flint charities, Ruth Mott Foundation and the Mott Children's Health Center, didn't respond to e-mails or phone calls asking for comment.
The other two charities, C.S. Mott Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, declined to answer questions, instead releasing statements that didn't specifically address the issue.
When the proposed land sale was announced by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in June, it was hailed by environmentalists and newspaper editorial writers.
The state would pay U.S. Sugar $1.34 billion for 283 square miles of farmland that would be used to save the ailing Everglades.
By turning the land into reservoirs and marshes, the state would restore the natural flow of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Gulf of Mexico.
The money will come from bonds backed by property taxes of south Floridians for 30 years.
Critics say deal unfair
But it didn't take long for the cheers to turn to jeers.
Among the growing chorus against the sale are public officials, rival farmers, unions and Clewiston residents and businesses.
They say the deal is too rushed, too expensive for taxpayers and too favorable toward U.S. Sugar.
It amounts to a taxpayer bailout of a financially troubled company at a time when the state could least afford it, said Juan Zapata, a Florida state representative.
Florida's budget is so bare it had to cut $1 billion from public education.
"We're in the midst of one of the most severe economic recessions in the history of our region, our state and the nation," Zapata said.
Hurt by foreign competition, U.S. Sugar stated in its annual report that it will lose money this year.
Critics also have seized upon a part of the deal that allows the company to lease back the land for seven years while the state prepares to restore it to its natural condition.
The lease price is $50 an acre, which is a fourth of the price now paid by farmers.
Rival businesses say the low price will give U.S. Sugar an unfair advantage as it continues to compete against them during the seven years.
Challenges remain
Other farming companies have launched a feverish campaign to scuttle the land deal.
Yet another possible legal fight involves the four Flint charities that are shareholders of U.S. Sugar.
The Lawrence Group, a mammoth Nashville farming company that has been trying to buy U.S. Sugar for several years, claims that its bid would benefit shareholders more than the land sale.
Shareholders would receive $300 a share right away under the Lawrence deal instead of waiting seven years for the land sale to be completed.
"This deal is a win-win for everyone," said Gaylon Lawrence Jr., who, along with his dad, runs the company.
But Lawrence claims the charities are bound by confidential agreements that prevent them from selling their shares to anyone trying to take over U.S. Sugar.
That runs counter to a federal law requiring charities to maximize their assets on behalf of their beneficiaries, in this case the poor of Flint.Detroit News
