Tax credit paves way for 250 jobs downtown
Youngstown also will give the company a variety of other incentives.
By MARC KOVAC
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS — State officials on Monday paved the way for a call center to open a 250-employee location in downtown Youngstown by approving a six-year, 25-percent tax credit for the company.
DRD Inc., which does business as Power Direct, has been eyeing 15,000 square feet of space in the former Phar-Mor Centre and a location in Florida for the new operation.
Dan Delfino, the company’s president and chief executive officer, told members of the Ohio Tax Credit Authority in Columbus that he planned to move forward with the Youngstown project now that the tax incentives have been approved.
In return for the tax credit, the company will commit to creating 250 full-time jobs within the next three years. The positions would carry an average wage of $12 an hour, plus $1.76 per hour in benefits. The company would have to maintain operations in the city for at least 12 years. A tax credit is a reduction in the amount of tax owed.
The company also plans to invest at least $800,000 in the new operation.
According to documents, “The facility will be used to take inbound business and consumer calls for clients. Should additional clients be acquired, there is a high probability that the Youngstown facility will be staffed well beyond the job creation numbers discussed for this agreement.”
Sharon Woodberry, the city’s economic development director, and Walt Good from the Regional Chamber attended Monday’s session.
The city has committed to $50,000 in grant money, a subsidized five-year lease on the office space worth about $100,000 in rent credits toward improvements and a waiver of permit fees.
“This project is one that the city wholeheartedly supports,” Woodberry said.
Power Direct was founded in Cleveland in 1994 and provides inbound calling services for companies such as AT&T and DirectTV. It employs 540 people, most of whom are based in Ohio.
Delfino told authority members Monday that he had considered other states for the project, but he “would prefer to keep things in Ohio.”