CONWAY -- The City Council on Monday approved a resolution aimed at attracting an automotive parts manufacturer to operate in Conway.
The City Council voted 5-0 to express its intent to issue up to $5.2 million in industrial revenue bonds to help the company with the purchase, renovation and equipment of the facility at 600 Dave Ward Drive, now the home of school-bus manufacturer IC Corp., formerly Ward Transportation Services.
The resolution identified the business as a Canadian company that makes custom metal products for the military, heavy truck, automotive and industrial applications.
Neither Mayor Bart Castleberry nor Brad Lacy, president and chief executive officer of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce and the Conway Development Corp., would give the company's name, citing an agreement with the business. Both said they expect a more specific announcement late today or Wednesday.
IC Corp., which no longer assembles its buses in Conway, employs 150 workers at the Dave Ward plant, according to a list of the city's largest employers on the Conway Development Corp.'s website. IC Corp.'s Conway employees could potentially work for the Canadian company.
Lacy said such a bond issue would not cost the city any money and would not require a vote of the public. He described the measure as Arkansas' only way to abate part of a company's property tax. If the city proceeds with the bond issue, it would reduce the Canadian company's tax but not eliminate it, he said.
Neither Lacy nor Castleberry would say how many employees the Canadian firm would have in Conway. Castleberry said he would comment on that issue later but not Monday.
"It's going to be good for Conway," Castleberry said.
For property taxes to be abated under Arkansas law, the property must be owned by a government entity, said Little Rock attorney Gordon Wilbourn, who advises Conway on bond-related issues. In cases such as this one, he said, the property gets transferred to the city and is then leased back to the business. At the end of the bond term, 20 years for example, the company buys the property back for a nominal amount such as $100, he said.
The city neither loses nor makes money in such cases, Wilbourn said.
Jeff Moore, a spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, declined to say whether the commission also was offering the company any incentives.
"We can't talk about any of the details because the company hasn't released those yet," he said.
IC Corp. is a subsidiary of Navistar, based in Lisle, Ill.
Council members Shelley Mehl and Mary Smith were absent from Monday's City Council meeting.
State Desk on 08/01/2017