Rathburn Tool Abatement Approved | Expansion Project
Article by Andy Barrand | KPC News | June 15, 2022
AUBURN — In an effort to expand and diversify its customer base, Rathburn Tool (Three Daughters Corp.) will be investing $875,000 into new machinery for its Auburn facility.
The DeKalb County Council entertained a tax abatement request from the company on Tuesday in response to the request, ultimately approving a four-year abatement with a 5-1 vote. Council member Amy Prosser was the lone no vote and Councilman William VanWye wasn’t present for the vote.
Anton King, executive director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Partnership, said many producers are having to shift to meet the demands of business to stay sustainable. That shift includes the purchase of new machinery allowing the production process to be more efficient.
By granting abatements like the one on Tuesday, King said the county can continue to be pro business.
The company will phase in the new machinery over the next year, with the final pieces of machinery to arrive in August of 2023.
The company’s narrative presented to council said, “using machine-tending technology will enable our best operators to be shifted from loading and unloading parts to inspecting, controlling quality and setup/troubleshooting.”
The four-year tax abatement is on a 25% sliding scale. The company will pay no taxes on the personal property in year one, 25% in year two, 50% in year three and 75% in year four. After that, the company will pay 100% of the value of its personal property. The four-year abatement has an estimated net savings of $13,468 for the company.
The company, located at 5005 C.R. 29, currently has 21 hourly employees, 10 salary employees and two salary owners. The average hourly wage of its employees is $19.04 an hour. The average annual wages for the 10 salaried employees is $85,800, excluding the two owners.
The acquisition of new machinery will allow the company to upgrade two or three employees to higher level positions and will create one new position.
Jerry Rathburn, who had a love for manufacturing, started the company in 1983 with the purchase of Souder Motors, a local machine shop located in downtown Auburn. From there, the company grew to what it is today, providing quality machining capabilities for industry around the Midwest.
Article source: https://www.kpcnews.com/thestar/article_1d142ab6-aa5f-58a0-8937-2c8612b15d36.html