Council OKs tax break at Getrag

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March 30, 2010

It’s one of many steps to attract new owner

By Daniel Human Tribune staff writer The Kokomo Tribune Tue Mar 30, 2010, 11:32 PM EDT

Tipton — The owners of the abandoned Getrag transmission plant site will receive a more than $300,000 tax break, which could transfer as an incentive to the building’s buyer.

The Tipton County Council unanimously approved Tuesday a resolution that will create an economic revitalization area.

The revitalization area, which covers the same land the county set aside as a Tax Increment Financing area, is at the northeast corner of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28.

A trust of local contractors took over ownership of the land after Getrag Transmission LLC and Chrysler LLC, former partners on the construction project, backed out.

Part of the resolution will cut in half the property taxes the trust owes for 2009.

The trust owes $660,000 due in property taxes at the $530 million facility’s site. The resolution will abate half that amount, which is $330,000.

The abatement is in effect for one year.

The council can vote to pass the tax break onto the building’s buyer as an incentive, said Rick Hall, an attorney for Barnes and Thornburg. The abatement would last 10 years.

“This isn’t any indication the solar company is coming,” Hall said.

Council President Brad Nichols said the county would need to draft another resolution and have a hearing if it wanted to create the incentive.

The resolution passed Tuesday is “one of many steps” toward getting Getrag ready, he said.

The county also approved in October a $13 million bond as an incentive by using TIF funds. The TIF covers the same area as the revitalization area, but the two incentives are separate pieces of government business.

The incentives are directed toward a solar panel manufacturing company, whose name county and state officials have not released.

The company would bring about 850 jobs to the area if it bought the plant. The business has looked at two other sites.

The 85 percent-complete building has sat empty since 2008 when Chrysler filed a lawsuit against Getrag over financing for the construction project. The 90,000-square-foot factory was expected to create more than 1,000 jobs.

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Council OKs tax break at Getrag

It’s one of many steps to attract new owner

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