TRUMBULL CO. Supplier awarded financing

THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
Trumbull County will assume no liability to pay off the bonds.
WARREN -- Oakley Industries, a Pontiac, Mich. automotive supplier, has been awarded more than $6.5 million financing to complete a factory adjacent to the General Motors' Lordstown Assembly Plant.
On Tuesday, Trumbull County commissioners approved issuing tax exempt industrial revenue bonds to fund ongoing construction at the Hays Industrial Park plant. The bond issue was approved by the Community Improvement Corporation of Warren and Trumbull County earlier in the day.
Bonds: The county will issue the bonds to help finance the factory, but Oakley assumes all responsibility for paying them off, said Jay Porter, an Akron attorney who represents the company.
On June 6, commissioners approved a 10-year, 60 percent tax abatement for the plant, which was to cost $2.4 million and contain $6.1 million in equipment and inventory.
The company pledged to create 47 jobs, with a total payroll of $1.6 million.
"Those are real jobs and real benefits for the county," Porter said. He said the factory will be ready to start production near November.
Out of GM: The Oakley factory is designed to mount and balance tires for vehicles assembled at the Lordstown GM plant. That work is now done within the plant by GM employees.
Moving that work out of the plant was part of a plant renovation plan GM is considering. The plan had GM moving the tire work and some engine work so it could reconfigure the plant to prepare for a new car model.
United Auto Workers Local 1112 at the plant said last week, however, that GM and UAW officials in Detroit agreed that there would be no further discussion of moving work out of the plant until GM committed to bringing a new model. Local union officials said UAW leaders stepped in to try to force GM to decide on the plant renovation, which could cost $500 million.