Fortune Metals Inc., a recycler of nonferrous metals, plastics and electronics now based in East Providence, RI, plans to transfer its New England headquarters to Lincoln, RI.
It will consolidate its Rhode Island operations here as well, combining facilities it now operates in Providence and North Kingstown, Arthur McGinnis, the company's vice president for operations, said last week.
Fortune Metals "will be a terrific addition to our tax base," Town Administrator Sue P. Sheppard said.
McGinnis said the company leased a trucking terminal for eight months before buying it, and some employees are already working there. The company has set a target date of December 2004 to have everything up and running, and all employees moved in at the Lincoln site.
The company will initially employ 85 people in Lincoln, and plans to add about 40 more employees to that number. It will demolish one of the nine buildings on the site and put up a new building in its place.
Fortune Metals was also considering a site in Fall River, but a tax-stabilization plan, approved by the Town Council earlier this month, tipped the scales in Lincoln's favor.
The terms of the agreement are as follows: While construction is ongoing, Fortune Metals pays taxes only on the assessed value as it stands now, before the beginning of construction. Once construction is complete, the company will continue to pay taxes on the assessed value prior to construction, and taxes on the improvements, or the value added by construction, will be phased in. The company will pay taxes on zero percent of the improvements the first year, 10 percent the second year, 20 percent the third year, and so on, up to the full 100 percent in year 11 and all subsequent years.
Fortune Metals is the first company to benefit from a tax-stabilization plan under a new provision town voters approved at May's Financial Town Meeting. The provision allows the town administrator to negotiate such plans without taking each individual plan to the voters for approval. Providence Journal