July 18, 1999
Three-reading rule to be put before council
By Erik Burriss
Staff Writer
Tom Distel, chairman of the Tiffin City Council's Law and Community Planning Committee, will ask the council Monday for a suspension of the three-reading rule so it can vote on a pair of real estate and personal property tax abatement agreements.
American Standard, which makes porcelain bathroom fixtures, is seeking a 10-year, 100 percent tax abatement on an addition to its plant and a new kiln, plant controller Tom Beaschler said.
The proposed improvements will cost an estimated $4.2 million and "will give us the opportunity to increase our capacity by one million pieces a year," Beaschler said.
Under the terms of a sidebar agreement, American Standard will donate 40 percent of the abated amount to Tiffin City Schools. The school district will receive an estimated $146,760 from American Standard during the next 10 years, according to figures provided by Seneca Industrial and Economic Development Corp.
The expansion is contingent upon approval of the abatement, Beaschler said.
Ameriwood, a ready-to-assemble furniture company, is asking for a 50 percent abatement for the next 10 years.
The company, which is owned by a Canadian-based corporation, Doral, is planning a $6 million investment in "new technology and modifications to the facility," Vice President and General Manager Ron Myers said.
SIEDC's figures show an estimated savings of $278,339 for Ameriwood.
Myers said that the proposed expansion would result in the creation of at least 75 new jobs by the end of 2001.
"That's very conservative," he said, "I expect it to be better than that."
Ameriwood will not enter into a sidebar agreement with the school district at this time, Myers said.
"Not to say we couldn't in the future, but we couldn't today," he said.
If the council approves the abatements, they will go first to the Seneca County Board of Commissioners, then to the Office of Tax Incentives in the Ohio Department of Development.