By April Rodgers | FreeWire – Your News, Your Voice
A planned expansion by IB Tech that initially projected approximately 220 jobs in Bucyrus was scaled back after a city tax abatement proposal stalled, resulting in the loss of about 50 anticipated jobs, according to city officials.
Bucyrus Law Director Brandon Gobrecht said IB Tech’s project includes two phases. Phase one involves construction of a warehouse, which is currently underway and is expected to bring 170 jobs. Phase two would add a paint line inside the warehouse, potentially creating an additional 50 jobs.
“The goal was to use the CRA abatement for improvements inside the warehouse,” Gobrecht said. “That is why we needed to pass a new CRA ordinance quickly, because the one we had would not allow IB Tech to get an abatement for inside improvements.”
Gobrecht emphasized that the abatement was never intended to apply to the warehouse construction itself.
“If the abatement would have happened, they would have hired additional people, looking at 50 people or so,” he said.
City officials said the process became complicated by internal issues at City Hall unrelated to the IB Tech project.
“After Fankhauser’s behavior with the AFSCME and fire contract, we all agreed to have him sit this out,” Gobrecht said, referring to former City Council President Kurt Fankhauser. Fankhauser was excluded from executive committee sessions where CRA details were being discussed, but Gobrecht said he intervened anyway.
“Fankhauser took offense to that and decided to try and stop the whole thing because he had pieces of information and did not have all the details,” Gobrecht said.
Gobrecht also explained that approval of a larger abatement would have required agreement from the local school district.
“To get an abatement above 50 percent, you need the school district to agree,” he said.
“He admitted to intentionally stopping it because he could only assume mischief,” Gobrecht said.
As a result, IB Tech revised its plans to proceed only with the warehouse construction, which will bring 170 jobs to Bucyrus. The second phase, including the paint line and the additional 50 jobs, is no longer planned.
During a subsequent public meeting, former council member Clarissa Slater criticized the decision, stating Fankhauser stopped the process because he had his “panties ruffled.”
CRA Explainer: A Community Reinvestment Area, or CRA, is a program that allows cities to offer property tax abatements to encourage private investment and development. In Bucyrus, a CRA can provide incentives for improvements inside existing buildings, but requires city approval and, for abatements above 50 percent, the agreement of the local school district. The program is intended to encourage job creation and investment that might not otherwise occur.
FreeWire reached out to former City Council President Kurt Fankhauser for comment. As of the time of publication, no response had been received.
Editor’s Note: Since the initial publication of this article, new information has emerged regarding the scope of the IB Tech project. While city officials previously cited the potential loss of 50 jobs due to stalled local tax abatements, The Partnership of Crawford County has recently clarified that the project was consistently projected at approximately 170 jobs from its inception. IB Tech is moving forward with its 170-job expansion, supported by state-level incentives.
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There goes my raise and we’re already struggling enough THANKS CITY COUNCIL