Property tax abatement OK’d for Warren startup company

WARREN — City and Trumbull County officials have approved a 75 percent tax abatement on property taxes for 10 years for Reinforcement Systems Corp., a start-up company planning to build a factory and employ 65 people on the city’s West Side within four years.

County commissioners approved the abatement Wednesday.

The company will construct a 60,000 square foot factory across from the Austin Village Plaza on West Market Street on the west side of the Martin Luther King Avenue Southest intersection.

The $20 million to $28 million that RSC plans to spend on the building, equipment and inventory is “one of the largest private sector investments in the City of Warren in a long time,” said Walter Good, Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber vice president for economic development, retention and expansion.

The company’s breakdown of investment includes $4 million to $6 million for building construction, $6 million to $8 million for machinery and equipment, $150,000 to $300,000 for fixtures and furniture, and $10 million to $14 million for inventory.

In exchange for having to pay only 25 percent of the property taxes on its building for 10 years, the company has pledged to have 25 employees its first year, 40 by its second year and 65 by its third year, said Michael Keys, Warren’s community development director.

The company will make reinforcements for the concrete industry, such as steel rebar and steel mesh.

Read more in Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com