10/30/14 Commissioners sign off on tax abate for $4.8 million manufactured stone siding company facility

  • By Nick Sabo
  • October 30, 2014
  • 398
                        
SUMMARY: ProVia Stone $11 million relocation biggest in the history of the county's Enterprise Zone program, Holmes County Economic Development executive director Tom Wilke said. The Holmes County Commissioners Thursday Oct. 30 signed off on a tax abatement for a stone company making an estimated $11 million relocation to Holmes County. ProVia Stone, a stone siding producer, will receive a 10 year, 75 percent tax abatement on a new, 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility to be constructed at 1498 County Road 140 in Walnut Creek Township. The building will cost an estimated $4.8 million to construct. The abatement was arranged through the county’s Enterprise Zone program. According to Holmes County Economic Development Council executive director Tom Wilke, the ProVia Stone relocation is the largest in dollar terms in the history of the EZ program. In addition to the $4.8 million facility, ProVia Stone will further spend an estimated $5 million on equipment, Wilke said, with another million on a sewer line extension and improvements to nearby roads. The tax abatement is for the manufacturing facility only. ProVia Stone will save about $40,000 per year in real estate taxes due to the abatement. ProVia Stone is currently located in Zanesville. Wilke said the company received similar, “if not more lucrative”, offers from other counties as that made through the EZ program in Holmes County. The EZ agreement is also unusual in that ProVia Stone was granted a 75 percent tax abatement. Most of the existing EZ agreements in the county are for 50 percent. Wilke said ProVia Stone asked for the higher percentage because of the “significant impact it will have on their initial cash flow and to allow for the resources needed for continued expansion within the new facility”. Commissioner Joe Miller said he would be willing to offer a 75 percent abatement to any other company making such a large investment. “If anybody else brings in an $11 million project, we’ll give them the same,” Miller said. In exchange for the tax abatement, ProVia Stone has pledged to create 15 new, full time jobs over the next three years. The payroll for the new jobs is estimated at $561,600. The tax abatement means East Holmes Local schools will get less than they would have in their real estate tax collection but for the EZ agreement. According to Wilke, real estate taxes on the $4.8 million facility would be about $53,000 per year without the abatement. With the abatement, ProVia Stone will only pay $13,221 per year, or $132,210 over the course of the 10-year agreement, Wilke said. However, East Holmes Superintendent Joe Edinger said he sees the EZ agreement with ProVia Stone as a win for the schools and community. Edinger noted that East Holmes will still get a share of the $13,221 in real estate taxes. Had ProVia Stone not chosen to relocate to Holmes County, the schools would have gotten nothing. Edinger further said the company will provide good jobs and spur more growth in the community, “a secondary effect we can’t measure”. “Our schools are thrilled that we are getting tax dollars because of their decision to come here,” Edinger said. “We’ll be getting some tax dollars now and we’ll be getting a lot more” when the tax abatement expires, Edinger said. ProVia Stone is associated with ProVia Door. ProVia Door bought Heritage Stone, the company that is now ProVia Stone, in 2011, Wilke said. Wilke said the ProVia Stone building site is on land owned by ProVia Door. Construction on the new manufacturing facility is expected to begin in early 2015 and wrap up in mid-2016, Wilke said.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load