Committee Hears Details About Trivium Incentive
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A proposed job creation grant agreement for Trivium Aluminum Packaging USA Corp. would provide a rebate to the manufacturer based on new job creation at its Youngstown plant, similar to the agreement approved with Steelite International USA Inc.
City Finance Director Kyle Miasek presented details of the proposal at a meeting of City Council’s community planning and economic development committee late Tuesday afternoon.
Trivium, which extrudes aluminum to manufacture packaging such as bottles and spray cans for the food, beverage and personal care products industries, is in the process of adding up to two additional production lines, an investment of up to $40 million, that would create an additional 90 positions at the plant.
Earlier this year, the company received a state job creation tax credit to support the project.
The Youngstown plant, which has operated since 1993, has a customer list that includes Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and other Fortune Top 100 companies. Projected employment there would increase from 345 positions to 435.
Representatives of Trivium, which is based in the Netherlands, met last fall with Miasek; Nikki Posterli, the city’s director of community planning and economic development and chief of staff to Mayor Jamael Tito Brown; and representatives of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber to discuss the company’s expansion plans, Miasek said.
“They explained to us that these investments were going to be made during 2023 and 2024, and asked if we could creatively come up with a plan that could assist them,” Miasek said. He said he was unaware of any plans by the company to seek a property tax abatement from the city.
Under the terms of the proposal, the city, using Trivium’s 2022 payroll of nearly $28.8 million as a baseline, would provide a grant equivalent to 75% of the new payroll generated during 2023 and 2024 in 2025. In 2026, the grant would be equivalent to 50% of the new payroll generated. In the third and final year of the agreement, the grant would equal 25% of the new payroll.
The estimated rebate to Trivium would be worth $121,688 in the first year of the agreement, $97,804 in the second year and $57,539 in the third.
The hope would be that Trivium would provide the rebated funds to its employees, Miasek said.
Last year, the city approved an agreement with New Castle, Pa.-based Steelite, which announced plans to move its corporate headquarters to downtown Youngstown and bring at least 60 full-time employees to the city.
“Another growing business in Youngstown; more jobs being added and more income tax,” said First Ward Councilman Julius Oliver, chairman of the CPED committee.
More Housing
City Council is expected to have legislation to consider at its meeting next week regarding the incentive package, as well as a request to allocate $8 million in American Rescue Plan funds to rehabilitate existing houses in the city and build new ones. Among those addressing CPED committee members about the proposal were Beverly Hosey, city community development director; Ian Beniston, executive director of Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp.; and David Redig, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning Valley.
“There’s a lack of quality [housing] stock,” Hosey said. “one of the issues is just really trying to find affordable, clean housing for rent, but we want to produce owners and buyers.”
The primary goal behind the work being done by YNDC, the city, Mahoning County Land Bank and other organizations is to create more quality housing across the city, Beniston said.
One way to do that is by renovating existing houses, and YNDC has done about 200 such projects over the past decade. The other is to build new houses, the cost of which typically will exceed the price that the properties can be sold for, he said. The ARP funds would not only provide a resource to develop new housing and encourage private investment in neighborhoods but also could be used to leverage other funds from sources such as the Federal Home Loan Bank and new market tax credits.
Oliver already has allocated $725,000 out of his ward’s ARP allocation to improve housing. He predicted that his colleagues would be willing to approve the $8 million request.
“We lose a lot of population to the suburbs because our homes are too old. Our housing stock needs to be replaced, and there are no modern amenities in them,” Oliver said.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
