Review council recommends continuing 10 tax incentives in Zanesville and Muskingum County

ZANESVILLE − The Tax Incentive Review Council covering the City of Zanesville and Muskingum County met recently to review current tax breaks and will make recommendations for a combined 10 current agreements to continue, seven of which are compliant.

“The board voted to recommend that (the city and the county) continue current agreements as written for this year,” said Matt Abbott, executive director of the Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority. “The final approval of the agreements lies with the city and the county.”

The TIRC board will recommend to Zanesville City Council that four of its tax breaks continue, three of which are compliant including ABB Leasing, Store It LLC, and Worthington Foods.

AG-Pro LLC, which is out of compliance, will also be recommended to continue in Zanesville, said Abbott. According to the council meeting minutes, Ag-Pro’s agreement should have created six jobs, with a payroll of $250,000. It created zero full-time jobs and retained 20 full-time jobs.

According to the minutes, Mike Murphy, AgPro Division president, representing nine locations in Southeast Ohio, addressed the group and told them many of the staff positions are assigned to multiple stores, so while they do work in Zanesville, they do not only work in Zanesville. This includes inventory control, large equipment techs, IT, recruiters and more.

Murphy also said the company was able to overcome a parts accessibility issue reported in 2023 but is now facing “a pullback on purchasing on the consumer side based on inflation and on the ag side dictated by the downturn in commodity pricing,” according to the minutes.

In Muskingum County, the TIRC will recommend the county commissioners vote to allow six of its tax breaks to continue, with four of them compliant. These include Bee Holdings, Halliburton, Dolgen Corp. and Normar Enterprises.

The two businesses out of compliance but recommended to continue in Muskingum County are Brill Farms and Fyda Freightliner.

Brill Farms’ agreement calls for four full-time employees and a payroll of $73,000, according to the minutes, but currently employs four full-time employees, with a payroll of $57,638. A representative from Brill Farms was not in attendance. However, voting member Clayton Dawson, representing Rich Hill Township, stated “the salaries are not that far off the target and all agricultural business has been difficult recently,” according to the minutes.

Fyda Freightliner’s agreement calls for 60 full-time employees and a payroll of $4,000,000, according to the minutes, but currently employs 36 full-time employees, with a payroll of $3,596,814. According to the minutes, Fyda Vice President Brian Fyda, stated they “are aware their headcount remains low; however, their payroll is nearing the amount that was committed.” Brian added in 2023 Fyda also acquired two additional brands that should increase their business, according to the minutes.

According to Abbot, the TIRC recommendations will be provided to the Zanesville City Council and the Muskingum County Commissioners this month along with any available reports. The city and the county will then review the information and vote whether to accept the recommendations.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Ten tax breaks recommended to continue in Zanesville, Muskingum County