TRUSTEES MEETING New YSD owner seeks tax break, plans to begin rehiring workers

About 145 workers have been laid off since late last year.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The new owner of YSD Industries is preparing to improve the company's Henricks Road facility while also rehiring laid-off employees.
An application for a tax abatement submitted to township trustees shows Global Railways Industries plans to rehire 25 furloughed workers over the next three years and make $1.3 million in improvements at the facility in the near future. Global Railways also expects to increase YSD's inventory by $500,000.
"My goal is to rebuild YSD to the great company it once was," new YSD President Jerry Hines told trustees at their meeting Monday night. Global Railways, based in Canada, bought YSD's assets out of foreclosure for $2 million last month.
"There's a lot of challenges ahead of us; we've got some stiff competition in Indiana. But we've got some great quality people here," Hines said.
Recommend abatement
Trustees voted to recommend that Mahoning County commissioners approve a nine-year 60-percent tax abatement on new inventory and improvements made to the facility. Commissioners have the final say on the abatement.
Even if the abatement is approved, YSD, formerly known as Youngstown Steel Door, will still pay about $95,000 a year in additional taxes because of the improvements and increases in inventory. About $146,000 in taxes will be abated.
"We're very enthusiastic about having you come in," Trustee Bo Pritchard told Hines. "I think you'll find there's no better employees than what you'll find in the Mahoning Valley."
YSD, which makes rail car parts, has 85 workers at the Henricks Road plant. About 145 employees have been laid off since the end of last year because of financial problems.
Rehiring plans
The abatement application shows Global Railways plans to rehire five employees this year, 15 next year and five in 2006. All of the rehired workers will be full time and will add about $736,000 to YSD's $1.8 million annual payroll.
"Hopefully, that 25 jobs will [eventually] have a 100 attached to the front of it," Trustee David Ditzler said to Hines.
Hines responded, "That's the goal. The tax abatement is going to give us the opportunity to make it happen."
The abatement application also shows that Global Railways plans to spend $1 million on new equipment for the Henricks Road facility, as well as $200,000 on upgrades to buildings and $81,000 on new furniture and fixtures.
The purpose of the improvements is to offset the costs of converting an operation utilizing 1950s technology and which has had no upgrade or preventative maintenance dollars in the past eight years into a lean-manufacturing, cost-competitive supplier to the railroad industry, the abatement application states.
YSD had been owned by a management team that bought the company from a Cleveland investment firm in 1988. It was founded in 1924 and had 2,000 employees in the 1970s.
Police business
In other business, police Lt. Mark Durkin gave trustees a check for $10,000 from the Mahoning County Violent Crimes Task Force. The check represents the township's share of money from items seized in arrests and will be used to upgrade equipment in police cars, Durkin said.
Police Sgt. Tom Collins also was presented with the Patrolman of the Year award Monday by VFW Post 4237.
hill@vindy.com