COLUMBIA - Swift Prepared Foodsâ application for tax incentives to build an Italian meats plant on Paris Road that would employ 251 people won the unanimous approval of the Boone County Commission on Thursday.
The company plans to invest $150 million to build a 275,000-square-foot plant that will begin production in the third quarter of 2022, Swiftâs Matt LaFollette told the commission Tuesday, when it held a first reading of a measure accepting the recommendation of the Chapter 100 Review Panel that the incentives be approved. It also plans a $35 million, 50,000-square-foot expansion of the plant in its third and fourth years.
The plant would be built on 80 acres at 5008 Paris Road in an industrial corridor that already includes Schneider Electric Square D, 3M, Aurora Organic Dairy and Kraft Foods.
The county commission will give final consideration Thursday. I think we agree that we appreciate the fact that Swift has chosen Boone County as the location for this type of operation, said Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill. Our enthusiasm for your participation here is high.
Swift has not chosen Columbia, but is considering it, as a location of its $200 million Italian meats processing plant, scheduled to open in 2022. The company has made an application for issuance of Chapter 100 Revenue Bonds and is seeking 75% property tax forgiveness for 10 years.
With the property tax forgiveness, the project would produce property tax revenue of $3.7 million over the 10 years, including $3.2 million for the Columbia school district.
The day before its deadline, the Boone County Commission allocated almost all of its remaining CARES funding.
The county received $21.2 million in May to deal with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic from the federal government through the CARES Act. Wednesday was the deadline set by the CARES Act to allocate that money.
In the Tuesday night meeting, the commission signed contracts with five more recipients to allocate one final batch. These are the final recipients:
The city of Centralia: $29,508.84
Children s School at Stephens College: $5,300
The Islamic School of Columbia, Missouri: $3,200
Windsor Street Montessori School: $3,700
Mizzou Academy: $5,400
Before the meeting, the commission had allocated $20,177,015.78, the Missourian reported.
Vaccination begins for MU Health Care employees columbiamissourian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from columbiamissourian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Hospitals never sleep, but it was a particularly wide-awake dawn at MU Health Care as frontline health-care workers received their first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine early Wednesday.
Christelle Ilboudo, doctor of pediatric infectious diseases, was the first to receive the vaccine. She works with children who have contracted COVID-19.
âThere is hope that we are about to see the end to this pandemic,â Ilboudo said. âAlthough thereâs still a long road ahead, this week has suddenly been a sign that we have better ways of managing this and getting ahead of this.â
At Boone Hospital Center, staff began receiving the vaccine Thursday morning.