COUNCIL City OKs tax deals for two projects
One company plans 36 new hires, and the other plans to add six jobs.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City council authorized the board of control to sign tax abatement agreements with two companies -- one is a thriving 13-year-old business seeking its fourth abatement and the other is a new company.
Council approved legislation Wednesday to have the board of control enter into tax-abatement agreements with:
UExal Corp., an aluminum manufacturing business planning a $20 million expansion at its Performance Place location, off Poland Avenue.
UClean Beans LLC, a company planning to spend $906,000 to open a car wash and coffee shop on Canfield Road.
Exal Corp.
Exal plans to hire 36 full-time employees once its expansion project is complete, said Jeffrey Chagnot, Youngstown economic development director. It will take about six months for the project to be done, he said. The company has more than 160 employees.
Council approved a 10-year, 75-percent personal property tax abatement on a $20 million expansion project at Exal.
The company is expanding to manufacture aluminum beer cans for Anheuser-Busch, and will make 11 million cans a month for the beer company, Chagnot said.
Clean Beans
The city's deal with Clean Beans is a 10-year, 75-percent real and personal property tax abatement. The car wash/coffee shop expects to open in October and will employ two full-time workers and four part-timers.
The company would save about $100,000 over the 10 years with the abatement.
Councilman Michael Rapovy, running for mayor in the May Democratic primary, had planned to introduce legislation Wednesday to make the water commissioner a classified civil service commission job.
The commissioner is currently hired at the discretion of the mayor, and Rapovy wanted to take politics out of the job.
Rapovy opted not to address the issue Wednesday and instead will ask the city law department to see whether council could bypass the charter review commission and place the question on the November ballot.
Recent changes to the charter were first presented to the review commission, and its members chose which proposals would be up for a public vote.
"I want to know if we can put it on the ballot without having to go through the commission," Rapovy said. "Hopefully, I'll get an answer by the next council meeting [on April 20]."
skolnick@vindy.com