Lordstown Council Approves 75% Tax Abatement for GM Battery Plant
LORDSTOWN, Ohio – Lordstown Village Council approved Tuesday a 15-year tax abatement for the General Motors-LG Chem battery plant set to begin construction later this year in the village.
The 75% property tax abatement has also been approved by the Lordstown Board of Education and the Trumbull Career and Technical Center Board of Education. By state law, any tax abatement above 50% must be approved by school boards for the institutions serving the site.
The next step, Mayor Arno Hill says, is a proposal he’s submitted to the Lordstown school board requesting that all income tax collected from the battery plant – which he estimated at $450,000 – go to the village.
“As far as the battery plant, we’ve done everything we can on our end. [GM-LG Chem is] ready to move forward, now it’s just getting through the permitting process. We’re ready to move forward and we’re not a stumbling block,” Hill says. “The only thing is how much income tax [the school district] is willing to share.”
The Lordstown school board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The proposal was tabled at its meeting last week and is not on this week’s agenda. Board President William Catlin could not be reached for comment.
The school district currently operates on a budget of about $650,000, Hill says, and tax revenue from the GM-LG Chem plant would be split evenly between the school district and village, $225,000 apiece.
“They passed the abatement. They waived the 45-day waiting period,” Hill says. “My guess is they’ll hold off until after their two renewal levies [in the March primary election] that make up about 20% of their budget. I think they’ll hold off until they see how the levy renewals go.”
So far, the mayor continues, the village council and boards of education have been in sync on issues like this, a trend he hopes continues into the future.
“When companies start looking in your area, it’s a snowball effect. I’m sure that there are other companies coming down, looking at us real hard,” he says, “Hopefully our partners – the school board, career center and village council – work as well as the ones that come down the pipe as they have on this one.”
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
