Wednesday, June 27th, 2018
Tax credits to spur hiring at 2 plants
Fremont Co. in Rockford and Crown in New Knoxville to benefit
By Tom Stankard
Submitted Photo
A Fremont Co. employee operates a forklift at the Rockford facility where the company manufactures ketchup, barbecue sauce and steak sauce.
Two local companies are set to hire more than 130 new employees after having learned on Monday they've been granted state tax credits for their economic development proposals.
Crown Equipment Corp. and The Fremont Co. submitted the proposals through JobsOhio and its regional partners. Gov. John Kasich announced on Monday the Ohio Tax Credit Authorities had approved the proposals. Crown was granted a 1.309 percent, six-year job-creation tax credit and Fremont was granted a 2.48 percent, seven-year credit.
Crown officials plan to construct an approximately 57,000-square-feet addition to their roughly 48,000-square-feet facility in New Knoxville. The addition will allow the New Bremen-based company to increase production of electric motors for its lift trucks, creating 63 new full-time jobs, said Randy Niekamp, Crown vice president of human relations.
"Our demand is good for our products. We're looking to make customers happy," he said.
The tax credit and the resulting addition will benefit Crown and New Knoxville, Niekamp said, as officials expect to generate $2.5 million in new annual payroll and retain $5.5 million in existing payroll.
Crown manufactures a wide variety of electric and internal-combustion lift trucks and components in 19 facilities throughout the world.
The Fremont Co. President Chris Smith said 70 full-time positions likely will be created as a result of the construction of a storage warehouse of more than 150,000-square-feet at the Rockford location. This will generate $2.6 million in new annual payroll and retain $2.2 million, Smith added.
"We've been in business in Mercer County for a long time. It feels great to be able to create jobs and do good for Rockford," he said.
Construction is due to begin in July, Smith said, adding he hopes it's done by January.
The Fremont Co. makes ketchup, barbecue sauce and steak sauce at the Rockford facility and makes mainly sauerkraut at its Fremont location. It is the second-largest maker of private-label ketchup in the U.S.
The TCA approved four other tax credits for companies across Ohio, including: Ace Hardware Corp. in West Jefferson, American Electric Power Service Corp. in Groveport, Prime Equipment Group in Columbus and Smartrac Technology Flether Inc. in a to-be determined location.
