Commission OKs VW supplier tax break

Hamilton County commissioners voted 8-0 Thursday to provide a 14-year tax break to Gestamp Corp., a Volkswagen supplier that plans to bring 230 jobs to Chattanooga.

"We're working out there on the site now," said Nick Proctor, director of Gestamp's new $90 million plant, which will make parts for Volkswagen's Enterprise South plant and possibly other companies. "We plan to make our first couple of hires starting late first quarter next year, starting with some skilled tradesmen."

The 49.7-acre tract on which Gestamp is building its plant is less than a mile from the VW plant at Enterprise South.

The tax agreement -- a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement -- requires Gestamp to pay only its county school taxes for all 14 years. Such agreements generally allow companies to pay none of their property taxes or a percentage for the duration of the agreement.

Details of the agreement were not included in the resolution passed Thursday.

At the commission meeting, County Mayor Claude Ramsey asked Gestamp officials to discuss what kind of education workers will need to get jobs with the parts supplier.

"Our business is fairly technical," Mr. Proctor said. "We're bringing in four extremely large, heavy industrial machines."

It "requires a certain skill set to run this very expensive equipment" in areas such as robotics, he said.

Mr. Proctor also introduced the commission to the plant's local human resources director, Tony Cates, of Dunlap, Tenn.

"We're looking for good folks in Hamilton County to start hiring next year," Mr. Cates said.

In other business Thursday, the commission voted to pay $90,877 for title insurance, local property taxes and fees for a $5.9 million building recently donated by Life Care Centers of America.

ABOUT GESTAMP

Headquartered in Michigan, Gestamp is a subsidiary of Gestamp Automocion based in Madrid, Spain, which has $6 billion a year in revenues. The Chattanooga plant will be its eighth in North America.