WARREN, Ohio – The Trumbull County Tax Incentive Review Council on Friday approved continuing tax incentive agreements for 22 companies, concluding they have met their obligations related to job creation, job retention and new investment.

In total, these companies have invested more than $1.5 billion in personal property and another $426.8 million in real property improvements over the course of their respective incentive programs, according to data provided by the Trumbull County Planning Commission.

The TIRC reviews these agreements each year to monitor whether companies have honored their pledges to create a specific amount of jobs and make substantial investments in exchange for tax breaks on new construction value. The TIRC is composed of county officials and representatives of area school districts, townships and municipalities.

On Friday, the TIRC recommended continuing 17 enterprise zone agreements with 16 companies. Kimberly-Clark, which is constructing an estimated $800 million manufacturing plant along Pine Avenue in Howland and Warren townships, was awarded two separate agreements – one for the manufacturing facility and another one for a proposed distribution center. While the plant is now under construction, the company has yet to approve the distribution project.

The council also recommended keeping in place six Community Reinvestment Area agreements. 

Just two agreements prompted short discussions. Venture Plastics Inc., Braceville, reported that it had failed to meet its projected job targets for 2025. 

However, Nic Coggins, director of economic development at the Trumbull County Planning Commission, which oversees the county’s incentive programs, said the company faced an unexpected business downturn toward the end of 2025, forcing layoffs.

“They expanded in 2018 and had 110 employees at the time and pledged to create eight new employees,” he said. The company was awarded a 60% tax abatement over 10 years in 2017. However, the latest numbers show that there were no new jobs created by the close of 2025, reflecting the recent layoffs. 

Coggins emphasized that Venture Plastics has met its job creation goals every year over the past eight years, and this is the first time the company has fallen short of its target. “They actually had exceeded their job creation, but by the end of the year that was not the case,” he noted. The TIRC recommended continuing incentives for the company.

A second agreement, a CRA that awarded a 75% tax abatement over 10 years to Steel & Liberty LLC in 2025, raised some questions because the project owner has not yet provided any investment or hiring data to the planning commission.  

Steel & Liberty pledged to invest $2.1 million in personal property and another $5.9 million in new construction to build a 55,000-square-foot hotel at 1610 Motor Inn Dr. in Liberty Township. The hotel projected the creation of 66 jobs.

Coggins said there was some confusion on the hotel owner’s part as to when he needed to produce hiring and investment numbers to the TIRC. “He thought he had until March 31 instead of March 1,” he said. The hotel owner said he would provide the information Friday, but Coggins had not received it by the 1 p.m. meeting.

Coggins said the hotel is finished and has employees, but there is no data to reflect the degree of investment and job creation. The TIRC also approved continuing Steel & Liberty’s CRA contract.

“The hotel is up, and it’s operating,” Coggins said. “There is some kind of job creation, but I do not have any backup documentation at this time.”