Catoosa County Attorney Chad YoungRINGGOLD, Ga. – A 2009 incentive package for Shaw Industries’ Ringgold plant was renewed and a loan for property on state Highway 151 was renewed Tuesday by the Catoosa County Economic Development Authority.
The incentive package for Shaw originally was approved in 2009 to help keep the floorcovering plant in Ringgold after the industry announced it was consolidating operations from its Algona, Wash., plant to a site off Interstate 75 at exit 335 in North Georgia, according to authority Chairman Randall Peters.
County Attorney Chad Young said the agreement provided for tax abatements for new equipment purchases for five years, but each year the agreement must be renewed to include whatever equipment Shaw has bought that year.
Shaw turned in a new equipment list in mid-December, Young said.
“The way it has worked for the past two years is each year they identify the equipment they add that qualifies for the abatement and they actually transfer title of that equipment to the development authority by a bill of sale,” Young said.
The development authority then leases the equipment back to Shaw for the abatement period, he said, and, at the end of the period, Shaw buys it back for $1.
Meanwhile, the loan with Northwest Georgia Bank used to purchase 50 acres on state Highway 151 matured Jan. 1 and was renewed by the bank for 30 days because the development authority didn’t meet in December, Young said.
Development authority members ratified the 30-day renewal, then approved 12-month renewal of the loan at 70 percent of the prime rate, or 2.275 percent at current rates, he said.
The current balance of the loan stands at $1,481,701.