The Fulton County Council on Tuesday approved a tax abatement package for Rochester Iron and Metal.
With a unanimous vote, the council approved a confirmatory resolution, establishing the scrap metal recycler’s Lucas Street property as an economic revitalization area. The council also approved the company’s request for a reduction in real property tax for 10 years.
The council did not meet the company’s request for a 10-year tax abatement on personal property. Instead, it approved a reduction in personal property tax on a $2.59 million investment for 7 years.
Speaking on behalf of the company, Rochester attorney Ted Waggoner earlier stated the company is purchasing sorting equipment, which will require an additional $550,000 in mechanical and electrical setup costs.
Rochester Iron and Metal also has plans to invest more than $650,000 in property improvements. Waggoner noted those
improvements, outlined in a separate statement of benefits form, include construction of a new building to house the new equipment. The document indicates the company plans to begin adding new equipment this month and be finished by mid-October.
“Rochester Iron and Metal, as it has done in the past, was listening at the last meeting,” said Waggoner, referencing complaints made by residents along Petty Drive over loud explosions. “They now double-check to make sure there is nothing in a car that goes through the shredder, and the number of explosions that were mentioned have gone down.”
“It indicates the kind of corporate citizen we’ve got here,” he said, adding the area where Rochester Iron and Metal operates was declared an industrial site before Petty Drive was developed. “They’re not trying to be a problem ... they’re not trying to be a pain.”