By Mark Schlinkmann
After months of on-and-off discussion, the St. Charles City Council has approved tax breaks to fund expansion of a construction products firm.
The 7-3 vote on Tuesday night allows the city to issue about $7.1 million in industrial revenue bonds for MiTek industries in the Fountain Lakes business area near Highway 370.
The company will also get abatements of some property, personal property and sales taxes, although council sponsors scaled back the tax break in the bill by about 30 percent to try to address the concerns of Orchard Farm School District officials.
The plan calls for MiTek to close its Columbia, Mo., facility and move those functions to the St. Charles plant, adding 40 jobs. That would be in addition to more than 60 already in St. Charles.
Supporters, including sponsoring Councilman Michael Klinghammer of the 8th Ward, have said the city needs to aid MiTek to ensure that the company doesn’t shut down the St. Charles plant and move elsewhere. Opponents questioned whether the firm - owned by the Berkshire Hathaway combine headed by billionaire Warren Buffett - really needed the tax break.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Orchard Farm superintendent Dan Dozier and Carl Sandstedt of the City-County Library District - whose agencies rely heavily on property tax - said they still oppose the measure despite the reduction in the size of the tax breaks.
The three “no” votes on the council were from Richard Veit of the 1st Ward, Jerry Reese of the 6th and Erv Ermeling of the 10th.
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