Tax Deal Leads to Plant Expansion
Posted July 21, 2005 in Press Releases
Lord Corp. will add 30 jobs in $3.8M project
by Timothy R. Gaffney
Dayton Daily News
HARRISON TWP., Montgomery County | Gov. Bob Taft and other state and local officials
Wednesday morning helped Lord Corp. executives break ground on an expansion project that promises to add 30 jobs to its plant.
"Lord is exactly the kind of global manufacturing company that represents Ohio's future," said Taft, who said the recently signed tax reform bill he championed will encourage companies like the Cary, N.C.-based Lord to invest in Ohio.
"For Lord and other companies there will be no taxes on new equipment," he said.
A manufacturer adding jobs is a rarity in Ohio, which has lost more than 179,000 jobs in four years, according to an analysis by Policy Matters Ohio.
Lord's expansion "helps to stabilize our local employment and provides job opportunities into the future," Montgomery County Commissioner Charles Curran said.
The state, county and township have been giving Lord incentives to invest here.
Most recently, the state extended a 2003 jobs creation tax credit agreement from five years to eight. Its value is estimated at $261,775, according to Maria Smith of the Ohio Department of Development.
The state also awarded an $18,000 grant for investment and training, which works on a reimbursement basis, and approved a $1.2 million loan, Smith said.
The township created an enterprise zone for the company and in 2000 approved a partial 10-year tax abatement in connection with an earlier expansion program.
Lord, an aerospace and defense supplier, expects to complete the $3.8 million expansion of its plant at 4644 Wadsworth Road by May 2006. It will add 38,000 square feet to its 90,000 square feet, said Will Hinkston, vice president of global operations.
Rick McNeel, Lord president and CEO, said the company expects to , boost employment to more than 215 over next three years, and sales should grow from $42 million to $59 million in 2010.