Oswego County’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA) approved a tax break for the Novelis aluminum plant in the town of Scriba Wednesday that the company says will help it rebuild faster.
The IDA approved waiving up to $15 million in sales taxes on the equipment and supplies Novelis will need to rebuild its damaged hot mill, badly damaged in a massive fire in September and again in a November fire that happened as the company made plans to restart the mill earlier than expected.
At a public hearing on Tuesday and again at the IDA’s meeting Wednesday, the agency and Novelis said that the company would spend about $255 million of its own money to rebuild and resupply the mill, which turns aluminum into sheets that can be used to make auto parts and beverages containers.
“It will really help us to more quickly pull together and get critical resources for rebuilding and restarting the Oswego hot mill,” Kevin Shutt, Vice President of Manufacturing and Production for Novelis, who has been sent by the company to oversee the rebuilding after Novelis dismissed the plant manager and several other senior officials in the wake of the second fire. A decade ago, Shutt was the Oswego plant manager.
The IDA and local officials supported the sales tax break, noting the more than 1,100 jobs and $180 million annual payroll at the plant, as well as its role as the key supplier to Ford for aluminum for its popular F-150 truck line. The fire in Oswego cost Ford an estimated $2 billion in earnings.
“Novelis is a good business,” said Jess Abbott of CenterState CEO. “Throughout all of the struggle…they were never missing a paycheck to their employees and the ripple effect of losing these operations would be catastrophic.”
“The Oswego County Legislature is fully behind this. It’s a huge impact for our county and the state, the nation, actually,” said Oswego County Legislator Mary Ellen Chesbro, chair of the Economic Development and Planning committee. “We’re behind it.”
The tax break passed unanimously. Novelis hasn’t said when it believes rebuilding and repair will be complete. For now, it is processing aluminum from sister plants and competitors.
