Wednesday, June 23, 1999
Lebanon aims to reel in 180 more jobs
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — The boom continues in the Warren County seat, with council Tuesday discussing three economic-incentive packages for businesses that could create a combined 180 jobs.
The companies interested in moving to Lebanon fit the economic profile of the type of development the city has sought in the past decade: smaller, light-industrial businesses in niche markets that offer livable wages.
Lebanon frequently uses tax-increment financing as a tool to entice businesses. It allows for improvements in infrastructure to be paid for from the increased taxes generated by a project.
Council approved tax-increment financing for Bunnell Hill Development to build a 106,000-square-foot office and manufacturing complex on Janet Way in Commerce Center. Lebanon's planning commission in May gave site-plan approval for the $3.5 million facility on nearly 10 acres.
Michael Schueler, president of Henkle Schueler & Associates and its affiliates, Bunnell Hill Development and Bunnell Hill Construction, brokered the deal.
Mr. Schueler said he has oral commitments from four companies, two local, one national and one international. He expects the facility to generate 100 jobs. He foresees it as an incubator for growing businesses — a starter home of sorts, with companies quickly outgrowing the space and moving into larger facilities within the industrial park.
The board also approved an incentive package for the Warren Group Inc., which makes piping used for medical purposes. The company plans to move from Middlesboro, Ky., to an expansion at E-Beam Services on Henkle Drive in the Commerce Center park. The Warren Group expects to initially employ 35 people full time, with the hope of adding 20 more.
Council will vote at its July 13 meeting on a third tax-increment financing deal for Trim Parts Inc. Negotiations to move Trim Parts Inc. from the Milford area to Lebanon began nearly three years ago.
The company, which makes reproduction parts for old General Motors cars, had outgrown its facility, said Mr. Schueler.
The company expects to have 45 employees. The $1.3 million, 40,000-square-foot building will be on 9 acres off Holman Road.
The proposals come in the midst of explosive growth in Lebanon and Warren County. With the county considered the state's second-fastest growing, Lebanon has seen its population increase by about 31 percent since 1990, from 10,461 to an estimated 13,700. The city is on track to best its record for residential housing construction this year. And the proposed jobs would be added to the city's tally of creating more than 2,200 jobs from new and expanded industries since 1991.
The city's healthy economy and subsequent low unemployment haven'talways proved to be pluses. A year ago, Cinmar, a catalog company owned by International Cornerstone, moved to Butler County's Union Township, in part because it feared it couldn't find enough workers.
However, city planner Doug Johnson said the prospective companies should be able to attract workers because the pay will be better than minimum wage. The average salary is projected at between $25,000 and $30,000 per year.
“There should be no reason for any unemployment, if you want a job,” Mr. Johnson said.
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