JSI Steel near Winamac is moving ahead with expansion plans, with some tax incentives from Pulaski County. A set of tax abatements for real and personal property was finalized by the county council last week.
Bobby Rugg with JSI said the business is currently out of room. “Basically, we’ll double the footprint of the steel fabrication facility with the help of Metfab and add, right now, four new machines, with the possibility of just continuing to go forward,” she told council members.
She said JSI is seeing its business grow, as other companies stop making their own parts. “Most of the people today are finding that they just want to put together their product and they need more space to put their product together and their machines are really old,” Rugg explained. “I think there’s four companies just in Winamac that we’re making more and more parts for all the time.”
Council President Jay Sullivan said he was glad to hear of JSI’s expansion plans. “I’ve been hearing where some of the bigger companies are starting to outsource parts and I’m thinking, ‘Man, if we could keep some of that stuff here because people are going to be losing their jobs if they’re outsourcing parts,’ and you guys are taking up the slack, which is great.”
JSI’s tax abatement request was one of three approved by the Pulaski County Council last week.
