A freight logistics company is looking for a new home and Ft. Mitchell struggles to land it.
The company is also considering moving to Ohio, according to Ft. Mitchell City Council wants to sweeten its incentive offers.
The company’s name was not disclosed due to a nondisclosure agreement. However, if it pursued incentives from the city, its name would be public.
Currently Ft. Mitchell has an income tax incentive that requires an applicant to create or retain at least 25 jobs, or to retain at least $ 2,500,000 per year in order to receive a 50% reduction in professional license fee rate for 5 years or a 25% reduction Professional license fees for 10 years.
The freight logistics company is interested in the wage tax incentive, but the city council also wants to include a gross income tax incentive.
If approved, a 50% tax credit would be granted on gross income, capped at $ 25,000 per year. The incentive would be available for the first two years a business is based in the city. To qualify, the company must be in Ft. Out of town Mitchell has a minimum of $ 2 million annual payroll and is committed to making at least $ 500,000 in capital investments in his location.
Kimberly Rossetti, vice president of economic development at Tri-County Economic Development Corporation (Tri-ED) in northern Kentucky, which supports the overtures for the logistics company, said Ft. Mitchell would work in the office.
“You do all the management behind the scenes,” she said.
“Pre-COVID (freight logistics) was a sector that has grown tremendously and has only increased,” said Rossetti.
The company would relocate 22 jobs to Ft. Mitchell plans to add 10 to 15 jobs each year. The average salary is between $ 60,000 and $ 100,000, she said.
The company plans to make a capital investment in its potential location in Ft. Mitchell of $ 1.5 million.
“They want to grow significantly in the next few years,” said Rossetti.
But she said it was a competitive project and that Ohio had more tools available than Kentucky and its cities.
Ohio, for example, offers a land tax cut and also has more cash as it is privately funded through an alcohol tax. “With the pandemic in particular, their revenues have grown pretty high,” Rossetti said of Ohio, noting that more alcohol was sold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ft. Mitchell hopes to move to neighboring Ft. Wright, in part because of the tax incentives offered, said Mayor Jude Hehman.
City administrator Edwin King called the proposal “a net positive result” for the city. “It’s net income for the city for the first two years,” he said.
But the time span is short, said Rossetti. “You want to make a decision next month.”
Ft. The Mitchell Council may meet again in the first week of May to accept the incentive option for the freight logistics company and any other company that may seek it later.
“I didn’t want to give the council a regulation for a company,” said Hehman. “It’s not just for one company, it’s for every company that is in Ft. Mitchell.”
Rossetti did not disclose where in Ft. Mitchell could track down the company, but she said the company is looking to purchase a property. “It shows the stickiness of a community because they have an ownership position in their property,” she said. “They are currently leasing, but because of their growth they want to grow and have a very large presence in the community they choose.”
-Michael Monks, Editor & Publisher
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