Goshen Steel Company Denied Tax Break
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Steel Harbor LLC, a stainless steel fabrication startup based in Goshen, was denied economic incentives from the Elkhart County Council. The Elkhart Truth reports the company plans to spend more than $6 million to build and equip a 55,000-square-foot facility in the Elkhart East business park.
According to Economic Development Corp. of Elkhart County President Chris Stager, the company would hire 28 people at an average wage of $20 per hour. The company serves industries such as architecture, furniture and recreational vehicle manufacturing.
“This is a brand new business to the state of Indiana,” Ben Worrell, site selector for McGuire Sponsel told the council during its meeting Saturday. “This would be a new business inside of Elkhart County, lots of automation and, like was said before, new skill sets as well.”
The council voted 4-3 against the resolution. Members noted the short amount of time they had to look at the request prior to the vote.
“I really struggle being given 48 hours to do research when we all have lives outside our council position,” said Councilman Adam Bujalski. “My vote today’s not going to be based on this business but it’s going to be based on the principle of having such limited time to do any research.”
Worrell says the request was submitted in March.
“It wasn’t our intent to bring it at the last minute, we just had a heavy workload in some other areas,” Stager said. “I had conversations with (County Administrator) Jeff (Taylor) but I didn’t give him specifics on the company until I got the stuff to Craig (Buche) Monday or Tuesday earlier this week.”
The publication reports the company can resubmit its application.