Carpet company planning expansion

DALTON, Ga. -- The Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority may issue industrial development bonds to help a carpet company expand here.

Elyse Cochran, director of economic development for the authority, said Looptex Mills Inc. may expand at its current location on Enterprise Drive off the South Bypass.

At a meeting last week, Joint Development Authority officials agreed to issue up to $5 million in bonds to aid the expansion.

"This is a way for them to get long-term financing at a cheaper rate (and) the bonds (may) be tax exempt," Ms. Cochran said.

The company, not the Joint Development Authority or local government, will be responsible for the debt, she said.

The expansion would bring new jobs to the county, she said, but many of those jobs will simply transfer over from Murray County.

Ms. Cochran said Looptex, whose parent company is Dobbs Mills, currently has manufacturing in Chatsworth and a distribution center in Whitfield County and is planning to consolidate both operations in Dalton.

"They're essentially acquiring another company that's right next door to them and I think there will be some new jobs created there," said Ms. Cochran. "They're building out and adding more space into their Whitfield County (operation)."

Joe Dobbs, president of Dobbs Mills, declined comment on the possible expansion.

Ms. Cochran said that, after the expansion, the company's total number of jobs in the county should be about 115, which includes existing positions and those added in the process.

Whitfield County Commission Chairman Mike Babb, a nonvoting member of the Joint Development Authority, said the expansion would help the local economy.

"The good for Whitfield County is those jobs become local and, at some point, the investment goes on the tax records," he said.