Mayor says cities vie for factory

SPRINGDALE — Huntsville and Springdale are vying to be the location of a factory, Huntsville Mayor Darrell Trahan said.

Springdale and economic development officials are mum on the issue.

The Kerry Group, a food ingredient manufacturer based in Ireland, wants to build a factory, and Trahan wants to secure his city as the location.

“We’re in competition with Springdale and a location in Oklahoma,” Trahan said.

Bill Rogers, vice president of communications and special projects for the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, said, “We never comment on companies or whether we are involved in conversations with them about recruitment. Companies don’t want to discuss potential moves or non-moves or other kinds of expansions because of competitive issues.”

“The city and the chamber respect companies that

want to make their own announcements,” Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said. “I’m not going to get ahead of a private company that may make an investment in our city, but I can truthfully say I haven’t heard anything about the company.”

Gina Swenson, spokeswoman for Kerry Foods, said the company had no comment.

The Arkansas Economic Development Commission offered Kerry $2 million in incentives to build the factory in the state, but the equivalent agency in Oklahoma offered $13 million, Trahan said.

Jeff Moore, commission spokesman, said he couldn’t comment. Leslie Blair, public information officer for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, also declined comment.

The Arkansas Economic Development Commission offers a variety of job creation incentives and tax credits. Moore said statutory incentives and discretionary incentives are available to companies.

Moore described statutory incentives as an incentive a company is entitled to by law if it meets a program’s defined requirements. The most common programs are tax credit programs Advantage Arkansas and Tax Back, Moore said.

A discretionary incentive has to be approved by the commission’s director. Such programs include Create Rebate, ArkPlus and Targeted Business, Moore said.

Advantage Arkansas is a tax credit for job creation based on the payroll of new, full-time permanent employees hired as a result of the project. ArkPlus provides tax credits of 10 percent of the total investment in a new location or expansion. Tax Back is sales and use tax refunds on the purchase of building materials, machinery and equipment to qualified businesses who meet certain criteria, according to the commission website.

“Incentives are a bonus to having a good location and work force, good infrastructure and logistical advantages,” Moore said. “Incentives are part of that process of recruitment.”

Trahan said he received his information from Kerry “principals” and he hopes to have a decision by December.

The factory will take two years to be built and provide about 75 jobs, Trahan said.

The only factory to close in Springdale in the past few years is APEX Tool Group on Old Missouri Road, Rogers said. APEX announced in August 2014 it would close its Springdale and Dallas locations and consolidate production in Sumter, S.C. The Springdale plant remained open for about a year after the announcement, Rogers said.

APEX’s departure left 250 people without jobs.

The unemployment rate in Springdale is close to 2 percent, said Wyman Morgan, the city’s administrative and financial services director.

Sprouse welcomes the idea of more jobs.

“Springdale is one of the leading job creators in the state and has been for many years, and whether it’s two jobs or 1,000 jobs, it’s good news for Springdale, and we would certainly do everything that we can to help them succeed in Springdale,” he said.

Morgan said a new factory would benefit the economy, but he couldn’t say how much of an impact it would have without knowing the kinds of jobs the firm would provide.

“If they chose to move into Springdale, they would be buying groceries and products at our retail stores and generating more sales tax,” he said.

Huntsville’s City Council recently voted to offer Kerry a variety of incentives, including sales tax rebate for material purchased in the city during the factory’s construction, waiving sewer and water tap fees and waiving business license permit fees for the first three years of operation and building permit fees, Trahan said.

“I feel that a company such as Kerry Foods would be a good, clean industry for Huntsville, and a large portion of our workforce works outside the county, so this would allow a lot of our citizens to stay and work in their hometown,” Alderman Jared Rogers said. “Everything will benefit from this. There will be more shopping and eating in town.”

The Madison County Quorum Court decided Oct. 16 to waive sales taxes on any material purchased in the county by Kerry during construction, County Judge Frank Weaver said.

The primary employers in Madison County are Butterball and Ducommun, both in Huntsville, Weaver said. Huntsville has an estimated population of 2,418 as of 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ducommun is an electronics manufacturer for government contracts, such as electronic boards for weaponry, Trahan said.

Huntsville would be a central location for Kerry because the company has customers in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville, Harrison, Perryville and Green Forest, Trahan said.

The factory will take two years to be built and provide about 75 jobs, Trahan said.