Monday, April 05, 1999
Warren Co. still luring new jobs
Abatements keep growth at warp speed
BY KEVIN ALDRIDGE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — The economic windfall in Ohio's second-fastest growing county continues, thanks in part to tax abatements received through enterprise zone agreements and community reinvestment area programs, officials say.
Karen Garrett, Warren County's economic development director, said that, when it comes to recruiting jobs and companies, having a good tax incentive package is vital.
“Tax incentives are a very important part of the growth and development unfolding in Warren County,” she said. “If no place else offered them, then obviously we wouldn't have to. But they are very important because of the competition.”
She said Warren County faces stiff competition from nearby areas such as Northern Kentucky, despite landing nearly 20,000 jobs and having payrolls grow faster than any of the region's other major counties in the past 10 years. She said some companies that flirt with moving to Warren County may choose other locations if offered a better incentive package.
“But the number of jobs being retained and created continues to grow and keeps growing,” Ms. Garrett said. Warren County's payroll more than doubled from 1990 to 1996, increasing $562 million to $1.1 billion.
“We certainly don't have a situation here where we are seeing many companies going out of business.”
Mason city officials recently approved financial incentive measures to entice a high-tech flow control products maker to build a multimillion-dollar manufacturing plant.
Flowserve Corp.'s Flow Control Division will break ground on a 45,000-square-foot facility in the Innovation Business Center at Innovation Way and Western Row Road later this year. The business, headquartered in Dallas and now operating in Blue Ash, engineers and makes flow control products and automatic valves for the chemical, pharmaceutical, food and paper industries.
The company had considered locating in Union Township in Butler County, but chose Mason in part because of its tax package.
“Abatements are tools we use to create jobs, secure development and improve the services we are able to provide to our residents,” Mason Assistant City Manager Eric Hansen said. “We use them to secure the long-term financial health of the community.”
According to the tax incen tive agreement, the 110-employee company plans to hire 25 more workers in the next few years. The company will forgo 100 percent of its real property taxes, or about $31,519, but make cash payments to the Kings Local School District of $7,000 a year.
The average salary of new employees, according to an economic development report, will be $30,000 a year, or $14.50 an hour. Mason will receive about $40,000 a year in earnings tax.
In Franklin, a supplier of car exhaust systems received a tax abatement on new investments valued at more than $7.5 million and is expected to create 90 jobs.
AP Automotive Systems Inc. received a 75 percent 10-year abatement on a $7.5 million investment, along with another $1 million in new inventory. The Toledo-based company will pay $226,000 instead of the $904,085 it would have owed.
Ms. Garrett said the company will buy high-tech equipment to make complete exhaust systems for the new Ford Focus, a replacement for the Escort that begins production in July.
AP Automotive, which employs 220 workers at its Commerce Drive plant, plans to increase staffing to 310 in three years. The average salary of new employees will be $21,320, Ms. Garrett said.
These guys know the score
Baseball pitches to kids
Opening Day drivers will leave early to avoid gridlock
Report Card: 4 area districts in Ohio's top tier
Report card stakes high for Cincinnati
War worries congregation
Kidnapping, rape suspect surrenders
Know when to stop for a school bus
Parents struggle with decisions on kindergarten
Tory Koch's mom returns good will
Easter observers up early
Flashy antics dazzle young 'NSync fans
Stones keep rolling at Columbus show
Springer casting suggestions don't add up
Author probes city's German roots in book
Black Film Festival at CAM
City may shuffle codes
Connector could ease Florence Mall traffic
Kenton to give felons a way out
Lakota forums solicit opinions
Oak Hills High School sprouts new space
TRISTATE DIGEST
Warren Co. still luring new jobs
Warren seeks better court security
