County Board, taxing bodies approve tax incentives

The Kankakee County Board was in ‘special’ session Thursday to consider a tax incentive program that’ll hopefully lure a foreign manufacturing company to the former K-Mart Distribution Center at Manteno.

The Economic Alliance of Kankakee County has been in talks with the un-named company. It would be the company’s first manufacturing facility in the United States. And it would bring some 2600 (26-hundred jobs) while investing over $2-billion dollars into Kankakee County.

County Board Chairman Andy Wheeler told the Board members this is a partnership that means positive economic returns .

Economic Alliance CEO Tim Nugent said ‘Project Unity’ works thru the State of Illinois. It’s a two-phase project; 1600 jobs in the first go-around and then another 2612 jobs in phase two. What Nugent could say about the company is that it's a Chinese company that makes batteries for electric vehicles.  There's a connection to the solar industry.

Manteno is among the finalists for the company to consider   " Several Illinois sites are being looked at. Manteno meets a lot of the company's criteria," Nugent said. 

Nugent said the company’s average wage offered is about $26.45 an hour ($55,000). Nugent said the workforce is here and we're near Chicago.

Nugent told the Board the company has said locating here wouldn’t happen without tax breaks. He said several other local taxing bodies have already agreed to Resolutions offering tax incentives. Now, the County Board is the final straw in putting a tax proposal together. Nugent said there was no timetable as to when the company will decide.

94.1 WGFA