The much anticipated Frito-Lay expansion project got its final approval Monday night as the Frankfort City Council voted unanimously to approve a pair of resolutions designating an economic revitalization area for real property tax abatement and personal property tax abatement.
“This is big time,” said Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes. “It puts Frankfort right in the epicenter of economic development and job creation. It’s going to mean so much for our local economy. Fifty more jobs paying well over $20 an hour with full benefits. It grows our Industrial Park and helps anchor our biggest employer in Clinton County. It’s all good.”
Late last month, Frito-Lay announced plans for a $159 million investment to enhance its current operations in the Industrial Park to add two new snack production lines as well as a warehouse expansion to allow strategic space for growth.
The real property tax abatement is for 10 years at 100 percent then declining 10 percent each year to zero, while the personal property tax abatement is for five years at 100 percent.
In other news, McBarnes announced a meeting regarding the proposed overpass will be coming up Monday at 7 p.m. in the Frankfort Administration Building.
“This is open to everyone in the community,” said McBarnes. “We will have our engineers from Butler, Fairman and Seufert there and they will make a presentation to the County Council, City Council, County Commissioners and Board of Works.”
McBarnes explains what will be done after the meeting.
“We’ll take all the information in and then make a final decision as to whether or not we pair up with the county and go after potentially up to $10 million in grant funding to build an overpass to spur economic development and rally help safety and convenience in our community,” he said.
If built, the overpass is most likely to be built on Roy Scott Parkway just west of Frankfort.