A Lancaster County tax deal could add more than 100 high paying manufacturing jobs
A Midwest company plans to create more than 100 jobs and invest $22 million in a new manufacturing plant in Lancaster County.
Lancaster County Council on Monday gave initial approval for tax agreement for the unnamed advanced manufacturer, listed as “Project Arrowhead” in county documents.
“This is a well-established manufacturer from the Midwest that we have been working with since early September,”said Jamie Gilbert, county economic development director.
The company plans to purchase a more than 100,000-square-foot industrial building on over 20 acres at 992 Quality Drive in Lancaster, Gilbert said. The building has been vacant almost four years.
The company plans to invest $22 million to pay for machinery and equipment, including $8 million to purchase the building.
The manufacturer will bring 106 jobs, with the majority paying more than $23 an hour, Gilbert said. The average annual wage of a manufacturing job is about $54,000, or about $27 an hour, in Lancaster County, according to S.C. Department of Employment & Workforce.
“It’s the kind of jobs we want here in the county,” he said ahead of Council’s Monday meeting.
The county is offering the manufacturing company a fee-in-lieu of tax agreement that will cut its property tax rate over a 25-year period.
Tax agreement
Seven years ago, the county set up a fee instead of a tax agreement with the former tenant Valmet Corp., according to S.C. Department of Commerce. That agreement cut the company’s property tax rate from 10.5% to 6% with a fixed millage rate for a 20-year term.
The terms of that agreement hasn’t expired and would roll into the new tenant deal for the remaining seven years and extend it 18 more years, for a 25-year deal on the existing building.
The company’s $14.1 million in new investment, less its $8 million property price, would get a separate 30-year incentive agreement.
The new company is required to maintain at least 75 jobs at the site throughout the term to receive the incentives, Gilbert said.
Employers such as Nutramax Laboratories, also on Quality Drive, and Founders Federal Credit Union were appealing to the company after looking at several other states, Gilbert said.
“This is a company that fits that standard,” Gilbert said.
