Notes: State Senator Proposes Corporate Income Tax Cut

Posted on January 17, 2011 by dave

Indiana State Senator Brandt Hershman wants to lower Indiana’s corporate income tax rate to 5%.

An Indiana senator wants to lower the state’s corporate income tax from 8.5 percent to 5 percent.

Republican Sen. Brandt Hershman of Lafayette, who chairs the Senate Tax Committee, says Indiana already has a relatively low cost of doing business, but that the corporate income tax is seen as a hindrance to job creation because it is one of the highest in the Midwest. He says lowering the corporate income tax would make the state a more attractive place for companies.

AARP and the National Association of Home Builders have placed a cutting-edge green home in Burns Harbor among the winners of their fourth annual Livable Communities Award.

AM General is laying off 300 in Mishawaka.

The owners of the former Independent Order of Odd Fellows building in Richmond are inviting the public in to offer suggestions on how to repurpose the building, which includes office space, two ballrooms and a full kitchen.

Ambulance maker Medtec will close its Goshen plant as part of a plan to consolidate operations in Florida.

A shopping center in Shipshewana is expanding.

Valparaiso is close to being able to sell its treated sewage as fertilizer.

Notes: Party Time in South Whitley

Posted on January 4, 2011 by dave

Party supplier Shindigz is expanding in South Whitley.

An area party supplier’s $1.7 million investment and plans to hire are a reason to celebrate.

The 84-year-old company’s investment will include digital printing, information technology expansion and capacity increases. Shindigz won’t seek tax abatements or government grants, according to the company.

Shindigz has added more than 55 party hosts in a year and expects to employ more than 400 party hosts in the coming year.

Cable and wire manufacturer Belden Inc. has asked for a $1.9 million tax abatement from Richmond for new equipment that the company says will help retain nearly 700 jobs.

Hotel room nights booked in Indianapolis in 2010 decreased 5% versus prior year.

Demand is low for tickets to this weekend’s NFL playoff game between the Colts and Jets in Indianapolis.

Two Goshen companies, Deloro Stellite and Lippert Components, are requesting tax abatements for new facilities.

Crown Point has approved a tax abatement for a $16 million hospice and senior living facility project.

The Evansville CVB is is under fire for spending $3,000 on its Christmas party.

Notes: Richmond OKs Tax Break for Hotel Project

Posted on December 21, 2010 by dave

Richmond has approved a tax abatement for a $6.8 million hotel and conference center project.

Council voted 8-1 in favor of a 10-year tax abatement on real estate for a new Holiday Inn, to be built by Rahee Investments, that will include a 100-room hotel and 7,000-square-foot conference center at 6000 National Road E.

Kirit Patel, owner of the Hampton Inn and Best Western hotels in Richmond, is principal owner of Rahee Investments. The project is estimated at $6.8 million and is expected to create 35 new jobs.

Shelbyville has come up with $100,000 to help a start-up aimed at helping older adults stay socially connected establish operations in the Intelliplex tech park.

Gov. Mitch Daniels has come out in support of a proposal to allow local governments to ask for a state takeover or declare bankruptcy.

Notes: Charities Share in Surprise Donations

Posted on December 20, 2010 by dave

The estate of a Richmond couple has provided more than $6 million in surprise donations to 13 churches, schools and charities.

Marlowe and Patricia Kluter lived quiet and unassuming lives in Richmond.

Marlowe, a loan officer at the former First Federal Savings and Loan, and Patricia, a teacher at Richmond Community Schools, were married for 51 years before his death in January 2007.

But the Kluters had long planned to share one surprising detail of their life in a very public way after Patricia’s death, which took place last month.

The couple has bequeathed 90 percent of their $7 million estate to 13 area charities, a gift that has put an exclamation mark on the meaning of philanthropy during the holiday season, said Bob Bever, the attorney for the Kluter estate.

If you build it, they will come.

A local group is seeking foreign investment for the former Colgate property in Clarksville.

Notes: Henry County Eyes Smoking Ban

Posted on November 8, 2010 by dave

Henry County Commissioners will consider enacting a smoking ban this week.

Kim Cronk, president of the commissioners, said the board on Wednesday will likely make its “final decision” on whether or not to pass a full or partial county smoking ban — a decision that would be both widely supported and disapproved of by a variety of citizens who say they’re affected one way or another by smoking.

“We’ve had probably a thousand people who signed a petition to not put (a ban) on the bars,” Cronk said. “We’re going to take everything into consideration, but we have several people in favor of it, too.”

John Klopfenstein Furniture & Floorcovering in Leo-Cedarville is building a new 10,000 square foot warehouse.

Richmond Power & Light is considering a net metering ordinance that would allow customers who generate their own power to sell it to the utility.

A central Indiana mass transit plan will rely on fewer trains and more busses than originally planned.

The Evansville CVB is asking for more money after two candidates turned down the job of executive director because the salary wasn’t high enough.

Wayne County Working to Save Plant

Posted on October 7, 2010 by dave

The Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County (EDCWC) has given a a $200,000 economic development income tax (EDIT) grant to B & F Plastics, Incorporated, a Richmond-based manufacturer of numerous products from thermoplastic and recycled rubber.

The grant will be used to assist a local management group’s efforts to purchase the company, which would retain 54 existing jobs with an annual payroll of $1.9 million. B & F Plastics President, and member of the management group, Bruce Upchurch says the purchase could also mean the creation of 26 new jobs by the end of 2012.

However, if the management group is unsuccessful in their efforts, the company’s assets could be separated and sold at auction, ultimately resulting in the company’s closure and a loss of the existing jobs.
Continue reading →

Recycling Facility Coming to Richmond

Posted on October 5, 2010 by dave

Perpetual Recycling Solutions, a plastic recycling company, will establish a production facility in Richmond, creating up to 55 jobs by 2012.

Established as Pure Tech Plastics LLC in 1989, the company uses technology to convert plastic soda, juice and water bottles into flake and resin pellets that are reconstituted for use in food and beverage packaging. Perpetual Recycling Solutions will invest more than $25 million to purchase and repurpose an existing 100,000 square-foot facility on 1561 N.W. 11th St. for new production.
Continue reading →

Notes: Muncie Auto Supplier Revs Up

Posted on September 29, 2010 by dave

Delaware County has approved tax abatements for auto supplier Magna Powertrain, paving the way for the company to expand and create 53 new jobs.

Delaware County Council members unanimously approved a series of abatements that will allow Magna Powertrain — which four years ago opened an auto parts manufacturing facility on Cowan Road — to expand and move into a shell building nearby.

The move will allow the creation of 53 new jobs paying an average of $15 an hour not including benefits, said Terry Murphy of the Delaware County Economic Development Alliance. The development will generate $1.6 million in annual payroll and will mean that $14 million in equipment — some of it from a Magna plant in Syracuse, N.Y. — will be moved into the building, which will be expanded from its present 80,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet.

The new Magna products will include gear boxes for electric vehicles and transfer case service and production. Automakers for whom Magna will produce parts include General Motors, Chrysler and Ford, Murphy said.

Lear Corp. in Hammond called nearly 90 union employees back to work Monday, and plans to bring in about 160 new employees starting next week.

“Agritourism” in Indiana is booming.

Kokomo has taken the first steps toward replacing a long-abandoned factory with a new housing complex.

A Richmond businessman has donated a $500,000 building to IU East.

Vanderburgh County in southern Indiana has has weathered the recession better than many other regions.

Hoosier Lotto sales are trending upward.

Notes: FedEx Building New Indiana Facility

Posted on September 13, 2010 by dave

FedEx is consolidating in Terre Haute.

FedEx plans to break ground before the end of this year on a new building for a ground package distribution center along Margaret Avenue, combining work from two other locations.

The 52,965-square-foot building will replace FedEx home delivery at 520 S. Airport St. and a FedEx ground facility at 1331 Aberdeen St. in Terre Haute. Employees from those two sites will move into the new location.

Muncie is applying for $600,000 in federal money to clean up three contaminated industrial sites.

The Richmond Municipal Airport is getting $1.9 million for paving work.

RV maker CMI has withdrawn a request for a tax abatement from Elkhart County.

Notes: Power Plant Cost Overruns Garner Criticism

Posted on August 10, 2010 by dave

Duke Energy’s new coal-gasification power plant near Vincennes is coming under fire for big cost overruns.

Indiana’s advocate for utility ratepayers said Monday he is “deeply concerned” about the mounting cost of a coal-gasification plant Duke Energy Corp. is building and urged state regulators to protect Duke’s customers from the cost overruns.

Indiana Utility Consumer Counselor David Stippler’s comments came four months after Duke Energy revealed the cost of its southwestern Indiana plant had grown to nearly $2.9 billion, or about twice the project’s original 2007 estimate.

Stippler urged the commission, which has the final say on utilities’ rate increase requests, to provide safeguards to Duke’s customers by capping the plant’s overall costs at an amount significantly lower than the $2.88 billion Duke wants customers to foot.

He also recommended the commission end a financial incentive allowing Duke to increase earnings by deferring income taxes. Stippler said removing that incentive would quickly save Duke’s Indiana ratepayers tens of millions of dollars.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses’ latest survey of the U.S. small business community found that a lack of customers, not a lack of credit, was behind the shortage of hiring and expansion plans.

The Kokomo/Howard County CVB would rather not be absorbed by the Kokomo Event Center.

The hot, humid weather this summer has led to a bumper crop of peaches.

Richmond’s Welliver’s will reopen under a new name.

It’s Christmas in August.

Casino revenues in Northwest Indiana are bucking a nationwide downward trend in gaming.

The Building Indiana News Blog

Tag Archives: richmond