The Boone County Commissioners approved a second bond for the Fukai Toyotetsu Indiana Corp. project in Jamestown at Monday’s meeting.
The bond, approved by resolution, is for funds not to exceed $1,020,000 to cover some unforeseen expenses, said County Attorney Bob Clutter.
The Boone County Redevelopment Corp. requested the bond to cover increased expenses. Resolutions authorizing the issuance of up to $3.5 million in bonds were approved by the commissioners last August for the project, to pay for construction of roads, water lines and other infrastructure.
“Unfortunately there have been some unforeseen expenses and cost overruns,” Clutter said. “The bids did not come in as low as we were hoping they would, and other infrastructure costs were higher than we were hoping.”
The increased costs come from some unexpected work, like moving a utility pole. In initial conversations with the Indiana Department of Transportation and the designers, they didn’t think the pole would have to be moved, Clutter said.
But INDOT is now saying it does. And there are some new costs related to increasing the electric service in the area, since FTIC has “pretty substantial electric service requirements,” Clutter said.
The cost to upgrade lines through the Indiana Municipal Power Agency is $250,000. Bids for other infrastructure work came in nearly $400,000 over the estimate.
The bond debt service will be paid out of the Tax Increment Financing fund for the area, Clutter added. If that is insufficient, county option income tax dollars are pledged. But the TIF revenues should be more than sufficient, he said.
This work is related to but not for the sole purpose of the FTIC project, said
Commissioner Jeff Wolfe. So regardless, the work, especially the upgrades to the utilities, will put Jamestown in a better position for future development.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the $73.5 million factory was held last September. The 151,000-square-foot facility is to be built on a 40-acre field at 1100 N. Lebanon St., Jamestown, about a quarter-mile south of Interstate 74, and is expected to open in the spring of 2016. The facility will be an auto parts manufacturing plant for Subaru and Toyota vehicles.
Fukai, which supplies products for Subaru, had been considering a U.S. investment since 2001, Satoru Fukai, president of FTIC, said in a news release.
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