Kentucky Says Bill From Toyota Is ‘Exorbitant’

Kentucky officials said Friday that they want a better accounting from Toyota Motor Co. of the $55 million in state money being spent to train workers at Toyota’s new Georgetown, Ky., assembly plant.

In a letter to the auto company, James Daniels, commissioner of Kentucky’s Department for Employment Services, said Toyota’s initial bill for $6.7 million in job training expenses was “exorbitant . . . and impossible for us to comprehend.”

He said the $6.7-million bill exceeded all training money ever spent by the state on other corporations. Kentucky has reimbursed Toyota $2.6 million, he said.

Toyota officials said the costs were legitimate. As part of an incentive program to get Toyota to build the plant in Kentucky, the state agreed to pay $55 million for worker training and to spend an additional $10 million to build a training center.