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New company will bring 15 jobs to Perry County
By KEVIN KOELLING, Managing Editor, Perry County News, January 30, 2006
TELL CITY - A new machining operation to serve the transportation industry will bring 15 more jobs to Perry County, the executive director for the Perry County Development Corp. announced Thursday.

Greg Wathen said Automated Machine Products Inc. will invest $2.45 million over the next two years to build and equip a 32,000-square-foot facility at the Tell City Industrial Park near Troy.

The new venture will be an outgrowth of a facility at Waupaca, Wisc., and will get raw castings from the Waupaca Foundry facility here, finish them and send them to customers.

“We are happy that business growth is allowing us to build our new facility in Perry County,” company President Mike Berry said in a news release provided by Wathen. “The combination of a skilled work force, along with a location that is easily accessible to both customers and suppliers made our decision the right one.”

Wathen's announcement came at a regular meeting of the Perry County Council, which approved a resolution giving the new company a tax abatement.

Wathen called tax abatements “more a tax phase-in than an abatement.”

“Remember, starting the second year, they're paying taxes,” he said of a tool widely used to entice new industries into communities. To encourage investment, taxes are phased in incrementally over 10 years.

He said the company is likely to grow beyond the announced 15 employees.

“They'll start with 15 jobs, but we anticipate it will grow from there,” he said. “It's likely to be 40 to 50 positions over time, but that's not something they're ready to commit to.”

The company's decision to locate a facility here came through discussions with officials at the foundry, Wathen said.

“Waupaca brought them to us,” he explained, after the question was put to them, “Do you have other customers or suppliers that might come to us?”

A location adjacent to the Perry County Waupaca plant was instrumental in the opening of a Webb Wheel facility in 2004.

With an initial payroll of about $400,000, Automated Machine Products will pay less than the $55,000 average manufacturing wage for Perry County, Wathen said, citing state figures. “But they'll be willing to take people with little or no training and provide them training.”