As the CEO of General Motors plans on meeting with Ohio Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown later this week, officials in the Village of Lordstown aren’t wasting any time to try and mitigate the impact of the announced idling of the sprawling GM plant.
On Monday, the Village Council held the first reading of a financial incentive package that is the linchpin of a proposed TJ Maxx distribution facility that could create at least 1000 full-time jobs.
The incentive package includes a 75 percent abatement on all property taxes for 10 years with the condition that the retailer reaches hiring goals. The total amount of the abatement will exceed $1.3 million over the lifetime of the agreement, Mayor Arno Hill said.
Hill also lauded the patience and commitment that TJ Maxx officials have shown, especially after a bitter zoning battle earlier this year.
“It seems like this area of the state is the first one to go down and the last one to come up. We need jobs. The [modified] abatement is going to be 1000 full-time jobs,” Hill said. “There are very few people that you can deal with on a handshake but the way [TJ Maxx officials] have approached us and everything, I could probably do that.”
While the new jobs that could be created, which could eventually exceed 1300, aren’t enough to totally offset the potential job losses at the soon-to-be idled GM plant, Hill said it’s certainly a start.
Last week, GM announced it was going to idle five plants across the county amid a broader company-wide restructuring effort. The job losses are anticipated to exceed 14,000.
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Hours before the Lordstown City Council's first meeting since GM made the announcement, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said in a joint statement that they would be meeting with GM’s CEO Mary Barra on Wednesday.
The meeting comes as the United Auto Workers union sent a letter to GM to formally object to the decision to end production at four U.S. plants, Lordstown included - the other plant is in Canada.
UAW officials said the closures violates statements the company made during contract negotiations in 2015. The Lordstown plant has undergone cuts before. Since 2017, two of the three production shifts have been eliminated, amid a sagging demand for passenger cars and specifically the Cruze, which is built in Lordstown. As many as 1600 people still work at the Lordstown plant.
Lordstown resident Jerry Apger worked at the GM plant for more than three decades before retiring in the mid-2000s. Apger said the plant is part of the fabric of the village.
“I just know that something else will be built at that plant because the plant is in very good shape. There’s a lot of people that depend on the jobs from that plant,” Apger said. “GM has done this before. Maybe they want to get a little bit more, maybe a tax break. I guess in a way you can’t blame them for that. Hopefully, there will be more good jobs.”
Despite the reality that the plant will be idling in four months, Hill is still extremely optimistic. The village’s finances remain on solid ground, he said, and money has already been set aside to service outstanding debt. The village’s facilities have already undergone energy-saving upgrades as well, the mayor said.
“I’m in a wait-and-see attitude. 2019 will be a great year if GM announces a product if we get our second Trumbull County Energy Center natural gas-fired power plant, and TJX breaks ground. That could be a good year,” Hill said. “Two out of three and I would be ecstatic but I’m pushing for three out of three. We’re going to be okay for a while. We’re blessed.”
