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Pfizer Closing Rocks Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County

By Andrew Cluley

Ann Arbor, MI – Ann Arbor's Mayor says Pfizer's decision to close its research facilities in the city is very serious.
Pfizer has more than 21-hundred workers in Ann Arbor who will be affected by the closing. Mayor John Hieftje says the city will be working with the state and the University of Michigan to try to keep as many Pfizer employees in the area as possible.
Heiftje says Pfizer paid about 13-million dollars to local taxing authorities last year. He says the city will also be reviewing the language of tax abatements granted to the company in 2002.
Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce President Jesse Bernstein says the ripple effects of losing Pfizer go far beyond tax revenues. He says the loss will impact the entire county, and says the first priority for the chamber and for all local governments and businesses is to do all they can to help workers being displaced by the Pfizer closing.
Pfizer says its closing its Ann Arbor operations and research and manufacturing plants elsewhere in order to cut two-billion dollars in costs.