TRUMBULL COUNTY Officials discuss GM plant expansion

The county is also offering other incentives to lure GM.
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners were meeting with United Auto Workers and General Motors officials this morning before considering approval of a tax abatement on a possible $500 million expansion of the GM plant in Lordstown.
The incentive package, designed to lure GM into building a new car line in Lordstown, was likely to be approved, Commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr. said before the session.
"Will the sun rise today?" he said. "In all honesty, we are looking at a tax abatement that, God willing and sun shining, will retain 3,600 jobs in the area."
Under the 10-year tax abatement, GM would receive a 75-percent cut on school taxes and a 100-percent cut on village and county property taxes, on a $25 million building expansion and $475 million equipment investment needed to bring a new car line.
Angelo said the abatement is just one incentive the county is offering General Motors to induce the company to bring the new car line and keep jobs in Trumbull County.
The county has also offered to dredge retention ponds and fix a runoff problem that has caused drains at the plant to back up. It has also pledged $1.5 million toward creating a $3.5 million alternate water supply for the fabricating plant, Angelo said.
The county has applied for grants for the remainder of the tab.
"This is a plant we are committed to, especially with Copperweld going down," he said. "We are fighting for every job we can get."
He estimated that 3,600 jobs at the Lordstown plant could spin off as many as 600 to 1,000 local jobs for suppliers, such as the 200-employee Android factory, which was recently granted a tax abatement.