[ad_1]
Posted at 19:12 CT 12 Mar 2019 |
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – A small engine manufacturer is consolidating its Wisconsin operations in Mississippi and plans to hire 250 people over the next two years.
Local economic developers announced Tuesday that Kohler would invest more than $ 15 million in new facilities in Hattiesburg, transferring work from its headquarters in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Kohler will lease 28,000 square meters (28,000 square meters) in an industrial park for the assembly of gasoline engines. The 20-year-old Kohler lawn mower plant in Hattiesburg employs 350 people.
"This consolidation of our Hattiesburg plant will help us better serve our customers by providing a single source for all our gasoline twin-engine engines," said Brian Melka, president of Kohler Engines, in a statement. "Our business continues to grow and this development makes our operation even stronger and more capable of delighting our customers in the future."
In a statement released Tuesday, private company Kohler Co. said it had reached an agreement with UAW Local 833 to "create alternative jobs in Wisconsin for each of the collaborators involved."
The expansion of Hattiesburg should be completed in one year, the 250 workers recruited in less than two years.
Mississippi Development Authority spokeswoman Tammy Craft said state and local governments could offer Kohler more than $ 18.5 million in tax breaks and subsidies. This includes a $ 2.6 million grant for the relocation of equipment, $ 300,000 for manpower training and $ 100,000 from the city's industrial park authorities. and county. Craft said local officials could also provide tax relief on inventory, real estate and new equipment, valued at $ 11.1 million over 10 years.
New Mississippi workers are expected to earn an average of $ 45,000 a year. This is enough for the company to be able to participate in a public program that will reimburse a portion of the labor income tax, worth $ 4.5 million over 10 years.
At the same time the agreement was announced, Forrest County and Hattiesburg County officials had agreed to settle Kohler's lawsuit, alleging that the company had been forced to pay too much property tax. Forrest County attorney David Miller said the city and county had agreed to settle the dispute, paying Kohler about $ 1.25 million in the coming years, in the form of a cash deposit. an additional tax credit adding to the incentives negotiated in the new agreement.
Read or share this story: https://www.sheboyganpress.com/story/news/2019/03/12/small-engine-maker-moving-work-kohler-mississippi/3146185002/
[ad_2]
Source link