VIENNA Trustees grant 10-year tax deal to car seat plant

The company plans to be in the Mahoning Valley for the long term, an executive says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
VIENNA -- Township trustees unanimously approved a 60 percent, 10-year real and personal property tax abatement for the company that plans to build a plant here to make seats for General Motors.
This tax abatement for Canadian-based Intier Automotive Seating, which will make seats for GM's new Chevrolet Cobalt car to be built in Lordstown, will be considered at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday by the Trumbull County commissioners.
A site on Ridge Road near Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport is the preferred location for Intier to build the plant, said Simon Kew, who would become the new plant's general manager.
"We're still finalizing that negotiation. It's not a done deal yet," he said, adding that there were still a few "loose ends to tie up" regarding the Vienna site.
The company envisions that the majority of the 179 employees who will work there will be drawn from the local population, said Kew, who is now based at company offices in Novi, Mich. -- a Detroit suburb. Intier is taking over work that has been done for the past 10 years by Lear Corp. at a plant in Lordstown.
Construction of the Vienna plant would start this fall, and the plant would be ready for occupancy and equipment installation next spring and ready to begin producing seats for GM next October, Kew said.
Here's the plan
The 10-acre site, which is empty land, is owned by Davis International, a developer, said Walter M. Good, business attraction manager for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
The New Market, Ontario-based Intier will make a $12.5 million investment in the facility, including $4.2 million in new construction, $7.4 million in new machinery and equipment and $900,000 in inventory, Kew said. It will have an annual payroll of nearly $4.76 million, says an Ohio Department of Development document.
The company will operate under a just-in-time delivery arrangement with GM, under which trucks will typically leave the Intier plant hourly to deliver seats to GM's Lordstown plant, using the King Graves Road interchange to state Route 11 and the interstate highway system, Kew said.
In making a site selection, Intier takes into account proximity to its customer, the quality and reliability of roads, the available local work force, and incentives provided by state and local governments, he said.
Other details
Kew declined to reveal the length of Intier's contract with GM. The auto industry is "extremely competitive," he said. He added, however, "We would not a build a facility and invest $12.5 million if we didn't think it was for the long haul."
Trustee Mark Finamore said the abatement terminates if the plant closes. "In the nature of today's business environment, I don't think any company is in a position to be able to guarantee how long they'll be here," he said.
He said, however, when the alternatives are granting the abatement and having development, or having the land sit idle, "You're better off having 40 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing."
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority has approved a 70 percent job creation credit on state withholding taxes, which is estimated to be worth $1.9 million to the company over the nine-year term of the credit.