Three companies in Butler County and one in Warren County are among the 13 Greater Cincinnati companies that plan to add nearly 2,000 employees in the next several years following tax credit approval Monday.
That’s expected to mean 59 new jobs in West Chester Twp., 40 in Fairfield and 60 in Franklin.
Georgia-Pacific Corrugated in West Chester Twp. expects to create 29 full-time positions, generating $2.4 million in new, annual payroll. Georgia-Pacific, which manufactures and markets paper products and chemical products, received approval from the TCA for a seven-year Job Creation Tax Credit.
The company’s newest project has resulted in a $3.8 million expansion of its existing 178,000-square-foot facility, nearly $18 million in machinery and equipment investment, and as many as 29 new jobs with an average salary of $45,000, according to West Chester Twp.
West Chester Twp. competed with California and Indiana to attract this new investment, township officials said.
“These projects represent continued investment in manufacturing and, in the case of Georgia-Pacific, advanced manufacturing, a targeted sector for West Chester’s future growth and sustainability,” said Aaron Wiegand, West Chester Twp.’s community development director.
Saf-Holland Inc. in West Chester Twp. also expects to create 30 full-time positions, generating more than $2 million in new, annual payroll. Had the tax credit not been approved, the company likely would have left Butler County by 2018, company officials said.
“The tax credit itself really helps us make that next step to serving our customers,” said Carl Mesker, SAF-Holland’s vice president, aftermarket (Americas). “That Cincinnati-southern Ohio-Northern Kentucky-Indiana area is a good spot to distribute from and the tax credit helped us really move some operations that are up here in Muskegon (Mich.) down to Cincinnati, which is a much better place to put it from the viewpoint of our customers. We get much faster response time to our customers.”
Kentucky and Indiana had both expressed interest in having the company relocate, “so it would have meant movement of jobs,” Mesker said. “We might not have moved the Cincinnati jobs right away, but we probably would have within two years.”
The company will also retain more than $755,000 in existing payroll through a consolidation project. Saf-Holland, which manufactures coupling, lifting, and suspension systems for trucks, buses, tractors and trailers, received a seven-year tax credit. Expected to occur by the end of March 2017, the consolidation will mean condensing operations in the company’s 115,000-square-foot warehouse into 60,000 square feet of space there to allow assembly operations to operate in the remaining 55,000 square feet of the facility.
DNA Diagnostic Center Inc., in Fairfield, expects to create 40 full-time positions, generating $1.5 million in new, annual payroll and retaining 240 jobs generating $15.6 million in existing payroll as a result of the company’s $85,000 acquisition project. DNA Diagnostic Center, a laboratory for DNA paternity testing, forensic DNA testing and human genetics studies, received approval for a six-year Job Creation Tax Credit.
In Warren County, Atlas Roofing Corp. plans to create 60 full-time positions at its plant in Franklin, generating more than $3.5 million in new, annual payroll. It will also retain more than $10 million in existing payroll. Atlas Roofing, which manufactures residential and commercial building materials, received a seven-year tax credit.
The other nine Greater Cincinnati area companies receiving tax credits are: Ascendum Solutions LLC; Chard, Snyder & Associates, Inc.; Comcage, LLC (Oodle); DMI LLC; Encore Technologies; GBQ Partners LLC; Nehemiah Manufacturing Company LLC; Path Forward; and Paycor, Inc.
The largest project of those area projects was Paycor, with 1,064 jobs created and 731 retained for the Norwood-based payroll-processing company, which provides recruiting, onboarding, reporting, timekeeping and compliance services.
“After a year of slow and steady growth, we saw a rush of companies closing projects in the fourth quarter this year,” said Kimm Coyner, vice president, business development and projects for REDI Cincinnati, the Southwest Ohio JobsOhio network partner that took the projects to the board. “We hope to see continued strong growth in 2017.”
REDI Cincinnati has this year helped create 4,737 total new jobs, retain 8,049 jobs and foster nearly $287.3 million in capital investment.
This month marks the most projects REDI has ever taken to the Tax Credit Authority at one time, according to Erin Rolfes, spokeswoman for REDI Cincinnati.
Unmatched coverage
The Journal-News provides complete coverage of issues that affect jobs and the economy in Butler and Warren counties, including coverage of new businesses and hiring trends.
About the Author
