“This is great,” said Barry Hall, a local businessman and president of the Greater Old North Dayton Business Association. “They’re booming and hiring from the community. It’s excellent for the economy and the neighborhood.”
Timothy Downs, deputy director of the city’s economic development office, said the company is expanding its line of composite materials from construction into natural gas drilling operations. The company received a similar city grant in 2007 for $100,000 to purchase a building at 401 Kiser St, about a mile away from the Troy Street building. The company invested nearly $1 million into the purchase and renovation of the building and the relocation of the business from Kettering’s National Composite Center to Old North Dayton.
In 2007, the company promised to create and retain 64 full-time jobs within three years. The company was unable to fulfill that goal during the Great Recession that began locally the next year, Downs said.
The commissioners will be voting on an amendment to the 2007 agreement that includes the additional $75,000 grant and amended “clawback” language.
“We’ve changed the way we write these agreements in the past year, year-and-a-half to base it on employee withholding” for city income tax rather than job numbers, Downs said.
In the past, if a company did not fulfill its employment goals, the city could ask for its money back, but there was no “tangible method” other than to ask to “clawback” its investment. The new language is based on the anticipated income tax from the 35 new jobs for a total of 60 positions.
“We are allowed to examine the tax records to see how much withholding has been paid and compare that to what is estimated in the agreement. If the withholding is less than the estimate, the company will be billed for the difference,” Downs said.
According to the amended agreement, the company is on the hook for $21,223 this year. It rises to $38,687 by 2017. Downs said the estimates were based on taxable income of $25,000 per employee.
The company said it will be investing more than $817,000 into its expanded operations. The company manufactures large structural composite products — I-beams, composite sheeting, bridge surfaces — that offer better corrosion resistance, superior strength, lighter weight and reduced costs than normal steel products, according to the company’s web site.
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