Skip to main content

Markle Council considers tax abatement

During the Wednesday, March 16, Markle Town Council meeting, Chad Kline, of Wells County Economic Development, and Andrew Wigner, of Wayne Metals, were present to discuss a possible tax abatement for Wayne Metals.
Kline introduced the matter to council, asking that they consider the statement of benefits as well as a resolution for the new equipment that Wayne Metals is installing. The two machines – a TJ Snow Spot Welder and a Universal Feed and Machine, cost $98,900. Wigner then explained why the company was investing in these two particular pieces of equipment.

“We’re buying two pieces of equipment to improve efficiency and throughput,” Wigner said. “The universal feed and machine is an air fed machine that will push through raw material on a punch press, and right now we are using a hand crank, so it is going to get a really precise amount of material and improve efficiency.”

The TJ Snow Spot Welder will do the same thing, and will also provide additional safety for the employees using the machine. Wigner stated that it would also increase the company’s electrical usage.

According to the tax abatement request form, Wayne Metals employs 174 people – and although they did not include any additional employees that would be a result of the proposed project, there was a reasonable explanation behind that decision, mostly dealing with compliance issues and today’s labor market.

Should a company wish to add 20 jobs to their site and included that information in their statement of benefits form, but were not able to hire those 20 people due to labor shortages, they could be penalized down the road by the municipality that allowed them the tax abatement in the first place.

“In today’s labor market, you don’t want to penalize a company for trying to invest just because they can’t hire people,” Kline said.

Council Vice President Nick Lund also asked Kline to provide information about how the tax abatement would affect the taxpayers of Markle.

“Because of maximum tax levys and that sort of thing… the total tax savings over the four year period is less than $4,000. So, (Wayne Metals) is going to see a savings but you’re not going to see that $4,000 but you’re not going to see that $4,000 in your general fund because when they look at total assessed values to assess your budgets, they give you a growth rate average over the last 4 to 6 years.

It still results in some increase of assessed value. The savings they receive is not actual dollars lost in your budget – you’re probably seeing a $100 to $200 loss and they’re seeing a much larger benefit.”

According to the resolution that was provided to council for consideration, the company requested a 100 percent tax abatement for years one through three, and an 85 percent tax abatement for year four. Kline also clarified that there was additional refurbishment of equipment taking place, but the investment in new equipment was the focus of the statement of benefits form.

Lund made a motion to accept the tax abatement resolution, under the advisement of Kline.

The motion passed unanimously.