Missouri gives $3M in tax incentives for Smith Electric plant - Kansas City Business Journal:

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With the governor on hand, said it had signexd a lease with thefor 80,00o0 square feet of assembly space at the overhau l base at . The company also has leased 10,00 square feet for offices in theAmbassador Building, the former headquartersx building, which the Aviation Department acquired in 2007. Linda Martinez, Missouri’s director of economic said the state offered a packagde of tax credits worthabout $3 million to attracgt the new assembly plant. The state packagw includes Missouri Quality Jobstax credits, with an estimateds benefit of $2.1 million over five years.
Nixon’se proposal to expand the Quality Jobs progranm recently passedthe state’s House of Representatives with 141 However, it languishes in the the governor said. Hopefully, Nixon said, the announcement regardintg the electric vehicle plant will get the messages across tohis proposal’s opposition in the Senate that tax credits are vital in attracting high-paying, high-technology jobs in a transitioninb economy. Smith Electric Vehicles, which chose the KCI site followint a multistate competition forthe plant, is expecte to create about 120 high-paying jobs by 2010 and around 200 withij three years.
To attract those jobs, Missourii also offered New Jobs Training Program assistance wortg anestimated $685,000 and Employed Recruitment and Referral Program assistance worth about The company also will receive sales/use tax Martinez said. Smith Electric Vehicles U.S., which will make Kansas City home to one ofthe nation’s first assembly plants for electric-powered commercial vehicles, is a subsidiaru of , a British company that has been makinh electric vehicles in England since 1920. SEV U.S.
initiallyt will focus its productionnon battery-powered vehicles for predictable-route fleet vehicles, said Bryan Hansel, CEO of the Starting next year, Hansel said, the plant will manufacturwe an electric version of the new Transit Connect light-duth vehicle made by (NYSE: F). In Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. plans to begin production of theSmith Newton, a medium-dutty electric delivery truck, in the thirds quarter of this A 200,000-vehicle-a-year market is anticipated for such and Smith Electric Vehicles U.S.
plans to grab an initia l 5 percent, or 10,000-truck, share of that Dave Long, a representative of the Aviation Department, said the company had leasee its new airport facilities at market rates for four with a clause that will allow the leases to be brokemn if Smith expands elsewherre atthe airport. The facility is expected to be a boon tolocall suppliers, including of Lee’s Summit, which Hansel called SEV U.S.’d battery supplier of choice. Locak economic development officials also are hopefulk that the plant will boostKansasw City’s reputation as a mecc a for advanced-energy companies.
KCADC created an Advancex Energy Task Force in December to tout and build oncurrent assets.