WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- Wausau city officials approved a multi-million dollar funding package to help an industry expand and create jobs. Linetec will receive 1.2 million dollars from the city in tax incremental finance incentives. The anodizing and paint finisher for several metal manufacturers will add a third production line at their Wausau plant at a cost of 15-point-3 million dollars.
Discussion at the City Council meeting centered on assurances that if Linetec doesn’t meet expectations, the city would be able to recover a portion of the taxpayer’s money. Keene Winters chairs the Finance Committee, and says the city needs to protect the taxpayers better than they have in some previous deals. “What we count on is increased tax values to pay back the money that we borrowed to give them the 1.2-million dollars, and so what we need to have is safety provisions in the agreement that in case Linetec doesn’t follow through on their plans or doesn’t create the jobs, then we’ll get a portion of that grant back.”
Linetec’s chief financial officer Chris Menard is confident the city will have nothing to worry about over the 18-years of the TIF district loan. “We were pleased with the outcome of the vote tonight, and we welcome the discussion that was had, and we also want to protect the taxpayers of the city and we look forward to delivering the jobs and the economic growth that we plan in the future.”
Time is of the essence, as Linetec sees demand for their services beginning to spike upward, so they plan to break ground on the new addition and third production line very soon so it can be operational by next August. “We will be accelerating construction. We have done some preliminary work to have things lined up so we’d be ready to go if this was favorable, so we are excited and there will be work happening very shortly. Probably not this week, but within thirty days.”
Linetec anticipates hiring 93 additional workers over the next five years. Several other businesses that supply raw materials or use Linetec’s finished products are in the Wausau area. One of them is Gordon Aluminum, where President A.J. Gordon expects he and others will have to hire more people because of Linetec’s expansion.
Linetec specializes in anodizing, painting, and powder coating metal products, with many of the products used in the building construction industry.