Square D received a five-year tax abatement for a $1.9 million piece of equipment Monday.
The Peru Common Council granted the abatement for the $1,973,000 automated box line, which could add up to 10 more jobs at the 529-person company. Square D will not pay any taxes on the equipment for one year, Peru Mayor Jim Walker explained after the meeting. However, the second year and thereafter until the fifth year the company will pay a percentage of the total taxes.
Granting tax abatements is a tool almost every community uses to make the area more attractive to businesses, Walker said.
Larry West, manager of quality assurance at Square D, said the equipment will be installed late this month at the Washington Avenue plant and will probably be 50 to 60 feet long. The box line takes a several-thousand pound coil of galvanized steel, punches holes in it and forms the steel into a metal enclosure that holds a large circuit breaker panel board. Sizes can range from 20 inches wide and six inches deep to 88 inches long for schools, shopping centers and other commercial and industrial applications.
"It's just newer technology and it will enable us to meet capacity demands quicker and easier," West said. "We like to build everything as the order is received and not do much warehousing."
The new equipment also will allow workers to run any box size at any time without any setup changeovers and with greater speed and accuracy. For example, workers won't have to run 50 of one size and then 50 of another but can run different sizes each time.
Also Monday, the council voted down a mandatory city employee annual health screening 5-2. Council members Mark Pyeritz and Phyllis Torrence cast the dissenting votes. The council had been considering appropriating $6,215 from the unappropriated general fund and transferring it to the board of works fund to pay for the screenings. These screenings could include checking blood sugar levels, weight, cholesterol and other health measures.
After the meeting Pyeritz said he voted against the ordinance because he thought it should be voluntary and that the information might be considered an invasion of privacy.
"We're losing rights every day," he said.
Torrence had similar sentiments.
"I get tired of someone trying to push everything at you," she said. "I slowly see our rights being taken away."
Torrence also worried about people with preexisting conditions having them become public.
"I have some big concerns," she added. "At the same time I want the best for the employees."
In other business, the council tabled appropriating $8,000 from unappropriated County Economic Development Income Tax funds for the YMCA transportation program. Councilman Kurt Krauskopf said he had asked for financial and other information several times but hasn't yet received it to share with the council.
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