Columbus businesses seeking tax breaks for expansions

Two Columbus businesses are seeking tax breaks from the city to help with expansion plans. Columbus City Council will be asked tonight to approve tax abatements for Applied Laboratories and for Rightway Fasteners.

Applied Laboratories is planning to purchase $2.4 million in new manufacturing equipment for its facility on Brian Drive off of Indianapolis Road. In paperwork submitted to the city, the company said it would be increasing the production capacity, automation, efficiency and speed of its saline product line. The expansion will allow the company to retain 130 jobs and to add four new jobs by June with average wages of $18.10 per hour. A tax abatement would save the company about $78,000 in taxes over the 10-year-life of the tax break.

Rightway Fasteners is seeking a tax abatement on $900 thousand dollars of new manufacturing equipment including two thread rolling machines and one pointing machine at its facility on International Drive in Walesboro. The company says it will add three new jobs by the end of the year and retain 435 existing jobs. The tax break would save the company slightly less than $48,00 over the next 10 years.

City Council meets at 6 p.m. tonight and will be meeting virtually. You can watch a stream of the meeting on the city’s website by clicking on the video link at columbus.in.gov.