Sogo (formerly Whitfield Foods) seeks county approval for brownfield tax abatement tied to $13 million site cleanup
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Summary
Sogo Properties (formerly Whitfield Foods) asked the Montgomery County Commission to consider a local abatement under an ADEM brownfield cleanup concurrence for about $6.1 million of eligible investment; county action will be on a future agenda.
Representatives of Sogo Properties, the company that acquired Whitfield Foods' Montgomery facility, asked Montgomery County commissioners to consider a local property-tax abatement for voluntary brownfield cleanup work at their North Court Street site.
Shelby Stringfield of the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce introduced Joe Friday of Sogo and explained the company has entered into a concurrence agreement with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for voluntary cleanup. Stringfield cited "chapter 9C of [the Department of Revenue] Code" as the statutory basis that allows a property abatement for eligible cleanup investment.
Stringfield said total project costs are about $13 million but that only $6.1 million of that investment is eligible for the abatement. She told the commission the county's portion of the tax savings over 10 years would be approximately $92,059, or roughly $9,000 per year.
Joe Friday, who said Sogo currently employs about 112 people at the Montgomery facility, spoke about the company's local investment and the importance of recovering cleanup costs in order to reinvest in operations and jobs.
Stringfield said the Industrial Development Board has already approved the request and asked the commission to schedule the matter for formal consideration at the next meeting. No vote was taken at this session.
Commissioners said the item would appear on the next meeting agenda for formal hearing and possible action.
