The authority approved for Eastman Kodak — which last year had about 700 workers in the research park off Research Boulevard — a 30 percent, 10-year refundable job retention tax credit to keep $32 million in existing payroll, or about 500 full-time jobs, at the site, said Greg Woods, a spokesman for the authority in Columbus.
Woods did not know if Kodak was considering moving those jobs out of Kettering to another location, but according to project notes provided by the authority, Kodak was “considering” moving those jobs either to New York or Indiana.
“If the company decides to continue operations at the project site in Kettering, Kodak would retain 500 jobs and invest at least $7.5 million in new R&D (research and development) and manufacturing machinery and equipment to help position the Kettering facility for future growth,” say the authority’s project notes.
The Ohio credit requires Kodak to maintain the jobs in Kettering for at least 13 years.
Bruce Pearson, Miami Valley Research Park president and chief executive, believes the company would prefer to remain in Kettering.
“This (Kodak’s Kettering location) represents the second largest concentration of Kodak assets in the world,” Pearson said. The largest concentration is the company’s headquarters in Rochester, N.Y., he said.
The state’s tax credit, Pearson said, “helps offset any of the thinking that would lead to moving any” or part of the local Kodak operations away from the area.
Pearson said he believes the state “has really stepped up to the plate here.”
According to the authority’s project notes, New York and Indiana offer Kodak certain advantages.
“New York offers the advantage of available space at its corporate headquarters’ facility, a facility that is owned by Kodak; whereas Indiana not only offers the benefits of tax incentives on all 500 employees (if relocated to Indiana), but also proximity to existing workforce,” the notes say. “The lease at the Kettering facility expires in September 2012 and in the event that the investment is not made at the facility, the region could potentially lose 500 jobs that could be relocated to either New York or Indiana.
Kodak spokespeople could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday. A message was left also with Mark Schwieterman, Kettering city manager.
Film pioneer Kodak is struggling to return to profitability. David Lanzillo, a Kodak spokesman, told the Dayton Daily News in May that his company was “effectively managing” a “fast-declining traditional business.”
He said then that Kodak was “in the midst of a very complicated business transformation — the likes of which very few other companies have attempted — and we are implementing this transformation during some of the most challenging economic times that our country has ever seen.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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