Council grants a pair of abatements

Two local businesses were granted tax abatements at a brief Portland City Council meeting Monday night.

After receiving unanimous recommendation from the city’s tax abatement advisory committee, council voted to award a five-year tax abatement on $26.3 million in improvements at FCC and a five-year abatement on $206,317 in upgrades at Dayton Progress.

The FCC abatement will cover new equipment the company will purchase to increase its volume and take on new projects with Toyota, Ford and General Motors. The improvements are expected to create 29 new jobs, and the abatement will save FCC an estimated $961,553 over the five-year period.

The Dayton Progress improvements aren’t expected to create any new jobs, but will save the company $7,555.02 over a five-year period on equipment upgrades.

Council members Judy Hedges, Janet Powers, Bill Gibson, Judy Aker, Michele Brewster, Kent McClung and Don Gillespie also heard totals from the city’s clean-up week. From May 1 to May 5, city employees disposed of 39 loads of garbage, totaling 149.8 tons, at a cost of $10,365.95. Geesaman said the numbers were much higher than last year, even though much of the week was plagued by heavy rain and flood concerns.

Council also heard from Geesaman about the efforts to prevent flooding in Portland at the beginning of May. He said the steady rain helped keep a continuous flow to the river, and that a new 32-inch sewer line along the river helped alleviate heavy water flow.

He also overviewed the city’s efforts to block drains near Fort Recovery Industries that helped relieve pressure on the Millers Branch line, which has often been the point of failure in the city’s past floods. Geesaman said blocking the lines caused water to build up north of the city, and that city officials are working on plans to ensure that no Fort Recovery Industries and other industries north of Portland are damaged by flooding as a result of the blocking strategy.