A battery company that is expected to bring 400 jobs to Franklin will get a 10-year tax break.
The Franklin City Council unanimously approved tax abatements for Energizer Manufacturing, Inc., including a $58.5 million tax break on personal property and a $4.1 million tax break on real property.
Sunbeam Development owns the 933,000-square-foot building on Franklin’s east side where Energizer will be located. Sunbeam would not pay any real property taxes the first year. After 10 years, the company is projected to pay about $673,000 in real property taxes, city documents said.
Energizer is projected to pay about $106,000 in personal property taxes starting its second year of operation, with the amount paid increasing 10 percent each year. Energizer will pay about $2.6 million over the life of the abatement.
"Taxes aren’t being waived in perpetuity on this thing. After 10 years, (Energizer) will be paying full taxes," city council member Bob Heuchan said.
Energizer has also committed to paying an 2 percent economic impact fee annually, with the money being used for projects around Franklin. Money from the economic impact fee has been used to pay for alley improvements, holiday lighting and to start a shared work space, said Krista Linke, Franklin’s community development director.
Energizer is committing to being in the city for at least 15 years and nine months.
Franklin mayor Steve Barnett supports the abatements because Energizer is a Fortune 500 company that is bringing hundreds of jobs with an average pay higher than the county average, he has said.
The state and Sunbeam, the developer, are also offering incentives for Energizer, Barnett said.
The tax breaks were a necessary tool in luring Energizer to Franklin, according to city documents.
The company is promising 440 jobs with an average wage of $18.30 an hour. Of those jobs, most — 413 — would be classified as operators or laborers, jobs which would pay $16.84 an hour. A total of 27 managerial positions would each pay just under $85,000 annually, city documents said.
The average wage for industry jobs in 2016 in Johnson County was $17.35, according to city documents. The vast majority of those jobs fall below the average.
Two community members asked Energizer representatives questions, including what the actual pay scale would be and what the lowest wage would be. Energizer representatives cited the average wage of distribution workers would be $16.84 an hour and that the market would help dictate some of those wages. The jobs all come with full benefits.
Energizer representatives also said the workforce would mostly be local residents.
Workers would mostly be packaging and distributing batteries, lights and chargers.
Energizer is a St. Louis-based company that makes batteries and portable lighting products.
