County Commissioners approve incentives for two employers

Clay County Commissioners approved an economic incentive package for a Canadian firm that has filed a site plan to build two manufacturing plants in the Clay Hill area.

The Jacksonville Daily Record reported that the site plan filed for IKO Industries includes a 306,476-square-foot insulation board manufacturing facility and office, a 265,381-square-foot shingles manufacturing facility, a 102,805-square-foot ice and water manufacturing facility, and a 21,184-square-foot processing building.

The development, labeled “Project Gator” by Clay County officials, will bring around 80 high-wage jobs to the area.

Commissioners agreed during their Nov. 22 meeting to grant the company an economic development rebate and a tangible personal property tax rebate.

Commissioner Mike Cella called the rebates reasonable and said that the company will pay local taxes even with the incentives.

“It’s not a free ride,” Cella said of the incentives. “They are still going to be paying quite a bit in terms of ad valorem taxes, and when you count that there’s going be 80 jobs to start with that pay anywhere between $51,000 and $55,000, that’s a $4 million financial impact on the community with those dollars being spent in the community.”

He added that sacrificing future taxes is necessary to attract new businesses to the county.

“In this day and age, that’s just the way it is,” he said. “Unfortunately, just because we’re nice folks and we have a need to move industrial businesses into our community, they don’t just decide to move into your community unless there are some incentives.”

Cella said the scope of incentives offered by Clay is in the same range as those offered by other similar counties.

“We’re not throwing millions of dollars at an Amazon or Wayfair like some of our neighbors to the Northeast have done and continue to do,” he said. “We just can’t compete with that. But I think this is a good project, and it does what we have set out to do in terms of our economic development.”

Commissioner Jim Renninger added that the employer will be operating in the county long after the tax rebates expire.

“There’s a sunset clause on both those (tax rebates),” he said. “This project’s going to be here long after the sunset, and then we’ll enjoy the full benefit of this production facility.”

Crawford Powell, president of the Clay County Economic Development Corporation, said that when the company first approached his organization a year-and-a-half ago, it was forecasting a $120 million to $150 million capital investment and bringing 70 jobs to the county.

“As the project has morphed and grown,” he said, “now they are looking at about a $225 million capital investment. “We’re pretty sure this will probably be (one of) the top five largest capital investment projects for the state this year. They’ve increased to a committed minimum of 80 jobs.”

Powell added that if the deal goes through, he expects construction to begin in the first or second quarter of 2023.

Commissioners also approved an incentive package for an employer already operating within the county that has outgrown its current facility and is expanding.

Powell referred to the company as “Project Buzz.”

“It will be expanding from roughly 100,000 square-feet to a 250,000 square-foot manufacturing facility,” Powell said. “They will also be employing a significant number of additional employees.”

Powell said the company has committed to retaining 90 jobs within the county.

“They’ve got a $33 million capital investment in the community,” Powell said, “but more importantly, we’re retaining these jobs. If we could not satisfy their need to expand their footprint for their manufacturing, they would have to look elsewhere.”