MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Board of Commissioners approved tax abatements in a meeting with Steve Wears of the Area Development Foundation on Thursday morning.
The two tax abatements are for Sanoh America and Rolls-Royce, and exempt the two companies from paying property taxes on new construction for the next 15 years. After 15 years, the two companies will make property tax payments. Sanoh has pledged an investment of $8 million and the creation of 50 new jobs with a payroll of $2 million; Rolls-Royce has promised to invest $29 million and will create 100 new positions at the company with a combined payroll of $6.24 million, according to Wears. Wears had no estimates of the projected funds that would be collected from new payroll taxes.
According to Wears, the Mount Vernon City Schools and the Knox County Career Center will receive money from the two corporations, but not in the usual manner. Wears said the two companies will make direct payments to the schools based on their current millage, and the educational institutions will be able to spend these funds at their discretion. The money for school funding will not pass through the county auditor’s office as other school funding does.
Wears explained that Sanoh will be building a new facility on Blackjack Road; Sanoh officials hope to complete construction by June 2009. Rolls-Royce will construct two new buildings for testing turbines, which will allow separate assembly and testing facilities. This, in turn, will increase production at the plant, according to Wears.
Also on Monday morning, the commissioners approved a request by B&J Drilling to apply brine water, for the purposes of dust control and ice control, at 13911 Millersburg Road and 27550 Buckeye Road.
In the afternoon, the commissioners met with Larry Mily of Shannon Farms to discuss the proposed housing development in Milford Township. The topic of the discussion was the cost associated with the wastewater treatment plant which would be required of the development. The meeting was also attended by Ron Simpson of the Department of Water and Wastewater, and by Darrel Severns of the Regional Planning Commission.
Simpson presented projected costs of the treatment plant and the maintenance costs associated with it. Toward the end of the meeting, Mily and the commissioners were focused on two main areas of the projected costs: Onsite testing and capital improvements for the future.
According to Simpson, in order for the treatment plant to meet current EPA regulations, the water discharge must be inspected five days a week for certain qualities, such as color and odor. Three of these inspections must be carried out by a person with a class I wastewater license. Mily suggested that a resident of the proposed development receive training to inspect the discharge water the remaining two days per week; the commissioners and Simpson said they were open to the idea.
Also, Simpson’s cost projections had separate fees for mileage and truck usage. Mily suggested merging these fees according to current IRS mileage guidelines, and this suggestion was also welcomed by Simpson and the commissioners.
In terms of capital improvements to the proposed plant, it was decided the topic would require another meeting in the future where ideas and suggestions could be discussed in more concrete terms.
