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TTI Floor Care will add some 500 jobs in Putnam County thanks to a plant expansion announced Wednesday.
The $20 million investment to expand the Cookeville plant will include new production lines and products at the facility just off Highway 111. Jobs will be added over a five-year period. The plant will also add new shifts.
Cookeville’s Industrial Development Board agreed Wednesday to provide tax incentives to help TTI Floorcare North America fund the capital improvements to its existing building.
Stephen Crook is the Vice President of Economic Development of the Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce. He said giving a new or expanding company incentives helps expand a community’s tax base.
“For the community,” Crook said, “the job creation offers turnover on the dollar in the economy, an increase in sales tax collections, property tax collections from individuals moving here and being able to afford buying homes.”
TTI’s expansion will bring in 500 new jobs over a five-year period with a median wage of $16.35 per hour. That number is on top of the 400 jobs presently in the factory. In return, Cookeville is giving TTI a 15-year of abatement on property taxes and 10-year personal property abatement.
“It allows them to take the property taxes they would have been paying in both real and personal property and apply that towards their project itself,” Crook said.
Part of TTI’s agreement with the Industrial Board included a provision that if the company does not meet its projected employment numbers or wages, they will lose a portion of its incentives. Crook said this sort of provision is unusual in the economic development world in general, but it is something done here to entice businesses to meet their goals.
“For us, it’s a key staple on every agreement we’ve ever done,” Crook said. “We are a performance based program, and so the companies set their objectives and markers and targets that were the information we used to evaluate an intensive proposal. Then we evaluate whether or not they meet and maintain those markers on an annual basis.”
Included in TTI’s $20 million dollar capital investment is $8 million dollars in renovations to the factory and $12 million dollars in new equipment and personal property.
“We want to thank the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Putnam County, and the Cookeville community for their tremendous partnership and support,” TTI Vice President Jessica Rapp said. “Our commitment and investment in Cookeville demonstrate the high degree of confidence we have in our exceptional employees and partners throughout the state.”
