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General Motors Corp. might be bankrupt, but it’s considering a $46 million investment in its Allen County assembly plant to expand the line of trucks built there.
When the Allen County Council meets Thursday, it will consider a request that county property taxes on $27 million of its possible investment be suspended for 10 years. GM officials will pitch the project shortly after the council opens its 8:30 a.m. meeting; the council could vote on the project Thursday.
GM spokeswoman Alicia Kocher said she doesn’t know how quickly GM will decide on the proposal. But Mark Orr, shop chairman of United Auto Workers Local 2209, said company officials told him to expect a decision in less than two weeks. Local 2209 represents about 2,500 workers at the Allen County plant.
"To me, it’s very time-sensitive," Orr said of the council’s vote this week.
Local GM officials want to expand the plant’s capabilities so it can make heavy-duty, extended-cab Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. Light-duty versions of the trucks already are made there.
If it becomes reality, the project would mean the plant’s 2,600 workers would retain their jobs and a second shift would keep operating, Kocher said Monday.
GM’s tax abatement application says the project would allow GM to retain 50 jobs at the assembly plant. That means those jobs could be lost if the project doesn’t happen, Kocher said.
County officials learned just a few days ago about the company’s proposed investment and are trying quickly to come up with an abatement package, said Ashley Steenman of the county’s economic development office.
County Council President Roy Buskirk said the possible abatement is just one piece of the pie.
But he didn’t know whether additional details about other incentives would be discussed when the council meets Thursday.
"It’s important because that is a lot of workers. They’re high-paying jobs, and we want to keep them," Buskirk said.
Kocher said the Allen County plant is developing a business case for the project. Corporate officials will evaluate it and competing proposals from other plants.
Kocher declined to say which other plants might make a bid to build heavy-duty trucks. But Orr said GM’s Flint, Mich., assembly plant – which already makes heavy-duty trucks – is interested in producing more.
Heavy-duty pickups were made at GM’s plant in Oshawa, Ontario, which closed last month. They’re also made at the Pontiac, Mich., assembly plant, which is slated to close in October.
One line at the Flint plant is devoted to building medium-duty trucks such as the Chevrolet Kodiak and the GMC TopKick. But the company has judged the trucks to be unsuccessful, and production on the line, which employs 360, is scheduled to end July 31.
GM makes pickup trucks in Allen County, Flint and Pontiac. The 2008 Harbour Report, published by a Michigan-based consulting and research firm, said the Allen County plant was GM’s most productive pickup truck plant and the third-most productive large pickup truck plant in North America.
In 2008, General Motors paid $4.4 million in local property taxes – money that was spread among several taxing districts, including Southwest Allen County Schools and the city of Fort Wayne. That tax bill was based on an assessed value of $204 million, which includes the value of equipment, buildings and land, according to the Allen County Auditor’s office.
Tax bills for this year have not been mailed yet.
GM has historically been among the county’s top-paying property owners despite several current abatements.
Orval Plumlee is president of UAW Local 2209, which represents about 2,500 production workers at the Allen County assembly plant.
He’s optimistic the County Council will approve the tax abatements and GM will move forward with the project.
"I think it looks real good for Fort Wayne, and it would ensure future long-term viability for us," Plumlee said.
Amanda Iacone of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.
