Plans are moving ahead for a light manufacturing business to move into the old Anvil & Saw property on Pulaski County Road 200 South. But Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer told the county council Monday that the business isn’t ready to formally request a tax abatement just yet.
“They’re still going through the paperwork, making sure that going through the abatement process is in the best interest for the company and the county,” he explained. “They are sensitive to the financial concerns the county has. Obviously, abatement is on new revenue, so it’s not affecting anything already out there, but just making sure that everything makes sense, all of their paperwork is in order, and so we’re going to be looking at next month instead.” Council members took the first step in the abatement process last month by adopting a preliminary resolution designating the site an economic revitalization area.
Origer didn’t go into specifics, but he said the company will invest in real estate improvements and the purchase of one large machine, with the potential of a second in the future. “They’re coming and looking at moving from the five people they currently have on staff with what they’re doing with a building they own in Kentucky and a building they have in Logansport, to growing to 15 over the next couple of years,” Origer said.
But he said there’s the potential for even more expansion. “The entrepreneur behind it is kind of a dreamer,” Origer explained, “and he’s got some ideas for a second stage to the business down the road that theoretically could get up to 30 or 40 employees.”
Origer said the company is also asking to borrow from the county’s revolving loan fund. The Community Development Commission was scheduled to discuss that request when it met on Tuesday.
