The company, code-named Project M, will invest $2 million in plant, machinery and equipment, as well as create 15 jobs above the county average wage of $14.37 an hour.
In return, the county will provide an incentive grant each year for five years – providing the company also meets the requirements.
The grant would be .0027 times the investment in real property each year for five years and .0054 times the investment in machinery and equipment for one year, never exceeding $6,000 per year for the five-year term.
“They are a completely new company that is going to be moving here,” said Steve Googe, executive director of Davidson County Economic Development Commission. “It doesn’t exist.”
Offering incentive grants to smaller companies has become a new trend for the county, following a set of guidelines approved last year in an attempt to draw small businesses to the area and encourage local companies to expand.
“Before those guidelines were approved, we’d only deal with companies that were in existence,” Googe said, adding that businesses had to provide tax returns and financial information for the past three years. “With these new guidelines, we also assist startup companies.”
The company, which Googe says is looking at locating in the county at large rather than a particular municipality, is a component parts supplier to the construction industry. Having dealt with a similar company in Lexington, Googe says the business could bring more to the county than merely the 15 jobs.
“With that type of industry, we get a lot of people in the area to buy products,” Googe said. “Along with the tax base, you pick up sales tax. It’s always good to have a construction component here instead of having to go out of the county to bring them in if you’re going to build.”
Googe says he has been in conversation with Project M for several months and expects an announcement in about 60 days.
In other news, the board also:
• Approved a $450,000 Local Government Grant Agreement of Vitacost, a vitamin and health supplement company that already announced an expansion to its existing Lexington facility. The grant, which was already approved by the state but needed board approval to more forward, will allow the company to retain 168 jobs and help create 228 jobs over the next five years with an average weekly wage of more than $530, a commitment the company already made when it accepted the county’s incentive grant in exchange for a $6.7 million investment.
• Approved an additional $19,000 for the Extended Day School sewer project to confirm rock quantities on the premises before work begins.
• Approved the $4,900 purchase of property off of Frank Fleer Road and Linwood-Southmont Road for the expansion of the Southmont Box Site.
• Set a public hearing on the Rural Operating Assistance Program for Aug. 24
Staff Writer Erin Wiltgen can be reached at 888-3576 or at newsdesk@tvilletimes.com
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