Applied Laboratories plans $2 million expansion

Applied Laboratories is planning to purchase $2 million in equipment at its Brian Drive facility in Columbus, an expansion that will let the company add 10 jobs.

Columbus City Council was asked to approve a tax abatement for the company the its meeting this week. According to company president Jeff Logston, the expansion will allow the company to retain 167 jobs at the facility with an average wage of $22.15 an hour, and add 10 new jobs with average wages of $18.77 an hour.

Logston said that the new filling and packaging equipment will allow the company to meet increasing demand for its nasal saline products. He said the existing equipment can only handle small volumes of products but the new equipment will allow the company to be more efficient and meet higher capacity. The new equipment will go into an expansion built in 2019.

Under a tax abatement, property taxes on the new equipment will be phased in over 10 years. According to estimates from city officials, the abatement would save the company just under $109,000 over the 10 years, but the company would still be paying about $73,000 more than it is paying now.

The council approved the abatement unanimously.