Mount Vernon News

FREDERICKTOWN — The planned expansion of UMD Automated Systems will bring 10 new jobs to the village, according to Steve Wears of the Area Development Foundation. The company, which moved its plant to Fredericktown in 2000, builds conveyor systems that are shipped all over the world.

The Goodyear Tire Co. in Akron buys systems from UMD to move tires around their factories. Other systems are shipped as far away as Chile, or picked up in trucks by local customers.

UMD specializes in building customized systems for companies in a cost-effective manner. The systems are engineered and built from start to finish in the Fredericktown plant, allowing UMD to remain competitive with other companies who are unable to complete production from start to finish at one location.

Company president Doug Rogers and his wife, Laura, who serves as company vice president, relocated the plant eight years ago to Fredericktown, which is Laura’s hometown. Mayor Roger Reed said the company has been a great addition to the industry community in Fredericktown.

“It’s been a wonderful company,” Reed said. “They are fine people and an asset to our community.”

Wears attended a Fredericktown Village Council meeting last week to discuss a possible property tax abatement for the company as they build onto their existing facility, increasing production capabilities, and adding more good-paying jobs. The 10 full-time positions will create approximately $385,000 in payroll according to Wears.

A 15-year county property tax abatement for the company was recently approved by the Knox County Commissioners. Both abatements are for 100 percent relief from property taxes.

The plant, which is approximately 40,000-square-feet, will have a total square footage of about 61,000 when the addition is complete. The company currently employs 58 full-time employees, and has agreed to add the new positions within the next four years to comply with the abatement.

The 15-year abatement should be approved by resolution at a council meeting in the near future, according to Reed. Council members agreed the abatement was a good way to bring more employment opportunities to the village.

Reed said the schools must sign off on tax abatements of this nature, and the company will then give to the schools whatever revenues would have been received from the property taxes.

The mayor said the abatement is a win-win.

“An abatement is a good thing, even though you lose some money for the 15 years,” Reed explained. “At the end of it, you get the tax money, and the jobs have been added to the community.”