rrien Co
By ic er
ST. JOSEPH - hile 'chi-
n h lagged behind the
nation both during the rece-
ion and the current re overy,
Ch rle Schren ees 1985 as
th year when both th state
and the county will be back on
their fe t.
Sc ren, xecutive director
of th Berrien County Economic
Development Commi ion, de
li red hi year end report to
th county Board of Commis-
ioner at a pecial meeting
Thur ay morning Jan. 24.
The county completed six tax-
e empt bond ue during
1984: two ere in Benton
Township and one in Benton
Harbor (Jeno's, Inc., one of the
t 0 in Benton ownship h
ince relocated to Ohio .
Only t 0 bond i ue were
completed in 1983. Over 10
million d liars in 1FT' were
initi ted during 1984 - in
cluding 450 OQO for edco
meric -Orchard ar ay De-
elopment ith 2,850 OQ() and
250,000 for A, H K in Benton
JAN. 30 - FEB. 5, i98S THE CITIZEN PAGE THREE
n yeco omic picture not a
Town hip.
Tax exemptions for bu me -
es improvin their buildings or
equipment totalled 29 for the
county. Figure from Hiles,
ile Twp., Buchanan and ew
Buffalo were not available, a
they are handled by attorney
outside the economic develop
ment corporation.
Tho in Benton Town hip
receiving tax exemption :
Jeno's Inc. 658, 250; Printek
Inc., S583 000; Whirlpool,
52,742,607; Benton Harbor
Engineering, 1,537,900; Har-
bor Printing, 218,000; R-B
ebuilders, 5263,000; and R.
Patter n Printing, 1 055,226.
Tho busine es in Benton
Harbor getting tax b ea s:
Michigan Fruit Canners,
2042,785; Indu trial Electric
650000; Graphic Services,
68000; and leRoy's dy
Shop, 590 658.
To qualify for the 50% tax
exemption, the busine must
show that the irnprovem nts
will al 0 create new jobs.
Schrenk reported that 507 jobs
ilgri e t 0
an move ahe
BE TO TWP - Plan of
Pilgrim Rest Bapti t hurch to
cn truct an dult foster care
home moved ahe d when the
B nton T p. PI nning Com-
mi ion 0 yed a cial u
p rmit for the home.
t a Jan. 2 meeting, plan
n rs voted unanim u ly to re
comm nd appr val of the special
u permit for con truction of
th home at Broadway and
Lynch venue.
Plans call for constructi n
on what is no a vacant lot
of a hom to house 20 ment lIy
impaired dults, ccording to
Rev. Emery V rie, i tant
pastor of Pilgrim Re t.
ccording to Rev. V rrie
pecific building plan for the
project are not complete. The
church i trying to get financing
for the project and approval
from the ichigan Department
of Social Service .
Church members changed
their original plan to n t ruct
a 20-bed nur ing h me f r
senior-citizen. That pI n wa
'not fea ible" Varrie t ld plan
ner becau e it would take
at lea t nin months t btain
Ii cen e .
were created in Berrien County
due to the economic develop
ment program.
The revolving loan fund sa
five busine s take out low
interest loans, Harbor Printing
in Benton Township received a
58000 at 9% interest. How
ever, Schrenk said the loan fund
is depleted at pre ent and no
more loans will be given until
payments are made b ck to the
fund.
The 1.2 million dollar Urban
Development Grant awarded to
Benton Harbor, which was then
loaned to Alreco Metals to u
in the 18 million dollar develop
m nt of the plant has begun to
see re uIt according to
Schrenk. Alreco made its first
payment in April, of 419 000
back to Benton Harbor, which
will use the money to help
develop the orth of Main
Ind ustrial Park area.
Other future projects for
the economic development com
mi ion include working with
Inland Steel and General otors.
Schrenk said Inland has not
ro yon
•
a 0 a
made a final deci ion on a
plant site, or even if it will
build one. He did say that
"Berrien County i still definite
ly in the running' if Inland
chooses to build the steel
mill.
Schren al id the com-
mi "on has 5 500 acre site
that it will try t devle p and
off r to G (i r the propo d
Saturn uto production pJant.
Schrenk said the plant would
create 5-6000 jobs. • e
have alot of quality we haven't
promoted", Schrenk said, but he
did add that it would 'pro
bably be e sier to win the
Lottery" than it w uld be to
win the Saturn plant.
Schrenk said one concern of
the commis ion is that some
companies were investin huge
amounts of money, but not
creating any additional jobs. H
said I the commission undertook
a tudy in Benton To n hip,
and found that the compani
there had exce ded their job
pledges by 20 to 30%.
The commi i n not
City
.0.
•
o.
nd
Continued from Page 1
shaw and Randall J uergen en
reminded the c - mmission that
they were just voting on a lot
split, and not what was going
to be located in the buil in .
With that in mind the com
mission approved the lot plit
unanimously. Yarbrough and
Cooke stated during their votes
that the ommi ion hould
100 into the matter more.
. In another matter, the com
mission approved the audit for
fi cal year 1984 and manage
ment's respon. The udit
wa prepared by th ertified
Publi Account firm of Bri
tol, Lei enrin n Herkner and
mpany and audit the city s
without a few los s. The St.
Jo ph Foundry project ould
have created over 400 job.
Schren said that the ounty
had all the grant money and
tax e emption bonds re d to
b put in place: but th 'pro
ject fell through becau the
developer hadn't rai d enough
m ney -to meet th ir end of the
o t .
Jenny' Landing ha been
ven year in th finaliz-
in tage. That pr [ect re-
c ntly fell through
ace rding to Schrenk. b
Da r Prop rties had not orne
up with en ugh capital. Daryl
Ja b is attempting t re
stru ture his financin with hi
underwriters and lenders",
Schrank aid, "He never got
the total amount he needs."
Schran added that th pro
ject is not dead and could b
ready to be resubmitted orne
thime thi year. H al 0 id
8 nton Harb r's Urban Develop
ment Grant for the project
could be approved by the end
of January.
•
o
trial
fin ncial taternent and th
ommunity Devlelopment
Blo Gr nt Pro r m. i cal
year 1984 covers the period
beginning July 1 1983, and
ending June 30, 1984.
The audit wa completed
on ovember 12, 1 84. T�
mana ment respon was pre-
pared b City anager it-
chell, mmunity rvi e
Dire tor/Assistant City an-
ager illi m Lilly and Finan e
Director Ricardo J hn n.
The audit i or
publi in pection at th it
lerk ffic in ity H II and
at th 8 nton Harbo Publi
Library. "" 13 Ea t all Stre t.
(
n
n will