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Council declares former Donnelly plant an economic revitalization area ahead of public hearing on Slate Auto abatement
Summary
The council approved a declaratory resolution designating the former Donnelly property as an economic revitalization area and preliminarily approved a 10‑year tax abatement plan to support Slate Automotive’s planned electric-pickup manufacturing facility; a public hearing will be held June 12.
Kosciusko County Council voted to declare the former Donnelly property an economic revitalization area and to preliminarily approve tax‑abatement timelines so Slate Automotive (doing business as Slate Auto) and its real-estate investor can proceed to a public hearing and final confirmatory resolution on June 12.
The package presented to the council included an economic-development application describing upgrades to an existing vacant plant and a request for 10 years of abatement on real estate and personal property. An attorney representing Phoenix Warsaw Industrial Investors LLC and Slate told the council the current assessed real-estate value is $9,590,100 and that the project would include substantial new investment.
Meeting materials and the presenter listed a proposed total investment of about $362.3 million in real-estate improvements and personal property (manufacturing, logistics and IT equipment). The project team said it expects to create in the range of 1,600–1,700 jobs and estimated total annual payroll of about $93.9 million.
Melanie Riley, head of tax at Slate Automotive, told the council state and utility incentives helped make the project viable. Rich Schmidt, head of manufacturing for Slate, described a construction and hiring timetable in which building rehabilitation work would run through October and hiring of hourly production employees would begin after equipment installation; Schmidt gave a range of expected compensation levels for plant roles from roughly $70,000 for many hourly roles to six-figure salaries for engineers and senior staff.
Council member Dylan moved to approve the declaratory resolution and to include the economic revitalization‑area designation; Kim seconded. The motion passed by the council’s customary voice vote. The declaratory resolution allows the developer to publish notice and return for a confirmatory resolution after a public hearing scheduled for the council’s June 12 meeting.
Presenters said Slate already has several confirmed incentives, including two EDGE credits and an energy incentive from the local utility. Slate also reported it has used research-and-development credits at a separate prototype facility and expects to pursue available state and local incentives for workforce development and wages.
Council members asked for estimates of projected tax revenue after the abatement; presenters offered to provide revenue projections in the coming week. No final abatement was granted at the May meeting — the confirmatory hearing will determine the final terms and any local fiscal impact.
