Truth Staff
GOSHEN -- A public hearing is set for Saturday on the request by Jami, an office chair manufacturer near Middlebury, for a tax abatement on a planned expansion that would create up to 117 new jobs.
The Elkhart County Council granted preliminary approval on Feb. 14 to the proposal, only the second time it has ever done so. But it has to go before the public as well for its consideration. Then the council would once again have to grant the plans its stamp of approval.
Jami -- owned by Grand Haven, Mich.-based JSJ Corp. -- seeks a five-year abatement, or tax phase-in, on a portion of the property taxes it would otherwise owe as part of a proposed $480,000 expansion. Under normal circumstances, the taxes on the addition would total about $51,000 over five years, but they'd fall to around $28,000 with the planned abatement.
The request comes amid skyrocketing unemployment here, which figured in the council's decision to grant preliminary approval last month. The expansion would create 85 new jobs over two years, increasing Jami's payroll by $4.4 million, and 117 jobs in all over four years, boosting the payroll by $6.4 million.
Indeed, the county's tax abatement policy says recipients must be high-tech firms. But in light of the tough economy, the council in its action in February waived that requirement.
If the council gives the abatement its final stamp of approval, Jami would be obliged to create the 85 jobs, boost its payroll by $4.4 million and remain in the county for 10 years. Otherwise, it would have to pay all or a portion of the property taxes abated.
Jami's would only be the second abatement ever granted by Elkhart County officials. The first went to GDS Technologies, a biotech firm.The public hearing is at Saturday's meeting, which starts at 8 a.m.