Elgin inks incentives with local, Swiss firms
Elgin city leaders have signed off on $137,000 in incentives, plus other in-kind assistance, to help one Elgin business expand and to help another one set up shop in town.
Like past deals, city leaders added more rewards for hiring employees who live in Elgin, where unemployment was 10.6 percent for August above the 9.9 percent who are unemployed in both the country and the state, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
“In these tough times, every community out there is scratching and clawing for investment,” Mayor Ed Schock said. “With unemployment the ways it's been, every Elginite that can be employed is a plus.”
The larger of the two grants is up to $87,000 and will go to Elgin-based Fabric Images, which is expanding into a 155,000-square-foot facility at 225 Corporate Drive.
The company, which has been headquartered in Elgin since 1992, manufactures lightweight, digitally printed fabric architecture for the retail sector, museums and trade shows.
According to the agreement, the city will pay Fabric Images $500 for every new job paying $30,000 a year that it creates. The incentive jumps to $1,000 if the company hires an Elgin resident.
The agreement also provides $1,000 for every job created that pays $40,000 or more, with the city kicking in another $500, or $1,500 total, if an Elginite lands that spot.
The $2 million expansion is expected to create 100 new jobs, according to city documents.
The second deal is good for up to $50,000 with Givaudan, a Switzerland-based company that develops and manufactures flavors for food and beverage companies.
The company, which has operated in the United States since 1924, plans to open a 14,000-square-foot facility in previously vacant space at 735 Tollgate Road.
The project will create 22 new jobs, which start at $40,000 a year and average $77,000 a year. Elgin will pay the firm $1,000 for every $40,000-a-year job it creates.
The city also will waive building and permit fees and allow new Givaudan employees to buy memberships at the Centre of Elgin for resident rates in hopes they will spend time and money downtown.
In Elgin, August's unemployment rate was better than a year ago, when it was 12.1 percent, and July, when it was 11.7 percent, according to the state.
Councilman David Kaptain, who hopes to unseat Schock as mayor in April 2011, applauded the incentives, but added he hopes the city can expand the program's reach to include some of the lower paying jobs that make less than $30,000 a year. “I'd like to see it go a little further,” said Kaptain. “We need to enhance the program.”