Tax credits may bring hundreds of new jobs
Tenneco, DMAX, Frontier Technology, Silfex get tax incentives that could lead to 800 full-time positions.
Four Dayton-area companies were approved Monday for state tax-credit incentives that could lead to more than 800 new jobs.
More than half of those jobs will be headed to Tenneco Automotive Operating Co.’s Kettering plant off Woodman Drive, according to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority’s description of the project.
The companies slated to receive tax incentives after an Ohio Tax Credit Authority meeting:
Tenneco expects to create 483 full-time positions, generating $15.8 million in new annual payroll and retaining $22.8 million in existing payroll in the next five years as a result of the company’s expansion in Kettering.
The company was approved to get a 1.724 percent, nine-year job creation tax credit.
According to the state, Tenneco is “undergoing a network-wide facility optimization” and Ohio is competing against other locations for “all, part, or none of future production.”
A spokeswoman for the authority said Tenneco’s project means 483 new jobs for the Kettering plant and 478 retained or existing jobs.
The company is saying little about the possibility of new jobs, however. A spokesman for Lake Forest, Ill.-based Tenneco said he wanted to gather information before commenting.
In 2008, Tenneco leased about 40 percent of the Woodman Drive plant from then-bankrupt Delphi Corp. Tenneco made the move as the worst recession in decades undermined the nation’s economy and auto sales started slumping.
But by May 2011, the plant had about 390 employees and was hiring. At the time, Tenneco in Kettering made shock absorbers and struts primarily for General Motors passenger vehicles such as the Chevrolet Camaro, Cruze, HHR and Volt, as well as the Buick Regal and Lacrosse.
DMAX expects to create 150 full-time positions, generating $4.4 million in new annual payroll and retaining $35 million in existing payroll as a result of the company’s expansion in Moraine. The company received a 0.926 percent, six-year job creation tax credit. DMAX manufactures diesel engines for trucks.
The Dayton Daily News first reported in December that General Motors and Isuzu will invest $82 million into the DMAX diesel engine plant off Dryden Road. Some 570 workers are employed at the facility, which was built in 1998 and 1999. Some $856 million has been invested into the plant since 2000.
Frontier Technology Corp. expects to create 45 full-time positions, generating $4.1 million in new annual payroll and retaining $2.5 million in existing payroll as a result of the company’s expansion in Beavercreek.
Frontier received a 1.772 percent, seven-year job creation tax credit. The business integrates system engineering and operations research methodologies with information technology solutions.
Frontier is moving its corporate headquarters from Santa Barbara, Calif., to Beavercreek after growth the defense contractor has enjoyed in recent years, according to President and CEO Ronald Shroder.
Frontier develops software and provides analysis of high-tech operating systems for the Department of Defense and the aerospace industry.
The company, which has had an office in Beavercreek at 4141 Colonel Glenn Highway since the late 1980s, saw sales spike more than 90 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, Shroder said.
“That’s led to a tremendous opportunity for hiring as well,” he said.
The company is building out its Beavercreek office to accommodate new hires and positions consolidated from California, where the company was founded.
When completed over the next several years, the headquarters expansion will result in 45 full-time positions, generating $4.1 million in annual payroll, while retaining $2.5 million in existing payroll, according to the tax credit authority, which has approved Frontier for a 1.772 percent, seven-year job creation tax credit.
Silfex Corp. expects to create 109 full-time positions, generating $5 million in new annual payroll and retaining $20 million in existing payroll as a result of the company’s expansion in Eaton. The exporter of silicon components used in memory elements of smart phones and computer drives received a 1.321 percent, seven-year job creation tax credit.
The company, a division of Lam Research Corp. in Fremont, Calif., will retain $20 million in existing payroll as a result of the expansion, according to the state, which approved the company for a 1.321 percent, seven-year job creation tax credit.
Silfex officials could not be reached for comment.
Tax credits are awarded as a percentage of payroll. For example, if a company is approved for a 5-year, 1.5 percent tax credit, that means that for five years the company can claim a 1.5 percent credit on the new Ohio employee payroll related to new jobs created, said Stephanie Gostomski, spokeswoman for the Tax Credit Authority.
“The tax credits are performance-based and are only awarded if the jobs are actually created,” she said.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority is a five-member, independent board that considers requests for tax credits to help make possible business expansions or relocations.