MASON CITY – The Mason City Council on Tuesday evening unanimously approved a $250,000 tax break for a Mason City company in exchange for building an addition to its facility and promising to add up to 10 jobs that pay $9.50 an hour.
The council voted 5-0 (Jean Marinos was absent) to approve a development agreement with Dimensional Graphics, owned by Adam Gold of Mason City, located at 325 North Jackson Avenue. The company – founded in 1987 – has been trying for months to complete an expansion to its facility at that location. With the help of a new incentive agreement with city hall, that expansion can now be completed more easily. The property, now valued at about $240,000, will soon feature a new addition that will increase the property value by about $700,000. On that additional property value, Dimensional Graphics will have 100% of its taxes paid back by the city, not to exceed $250,000.
Dimensional will get a check, twice a year, from the city through 2026, paying it back any property taxes on the $700,000 added worth on its property. The Cerro Gordo County Assessor will determine the new value of the property once construction is complete.
In exchange for this grant of up to $250,000, Dimensional will hire, by November of 2017, 5 new employees that will be paid a minimum of $9.50 per hour. Dimensional must hire 5 more persons by November of 2019, for a total of 10 new employees. Dimensional currently employs 60 persons, city documents say. The company will be required to employ, on average 70 persons from 2019 through the termination date of the agreement, through 2026.
In 2012, Dimensional Graphics was awarded $115,000 in NIACOG RLF funding. Those funds helped the company acquire the assets of Academy Looseleaf & Bindery of Nashville, Tennessee. With the addition of the newly acquired machinery, Dimensional Graphics claimed it would add another product to their line, turned edge manufacturing, and also add 20-25 jobs.
“Over the past three years, manufacturing jobs have left our community,” Gold told NIT in 2012. “We are very excited to bring twenty or more jobs back.”
[poll random]
How his other business doing? The Yard never really hear anything about it.
You will when his drinking buddy Bookmeyer gives him another handout for it.
I have a solution to all this. We must make a law where the city budget must be cut by the amount of the give-away. In this instance the city must cut $250,000 out of the budget.
Not doing so burdens all other taxpayers!
We must cover this mans windfall by paying more taxes. If the city had to find a cut, they’d think twice. This is reverse Robin-hood. Take from the poor and give to the rich. The new employees if there are any must pay their boss out of their taxes.
This is wrong on…
does anywhere know where north Jackson is?
@ Anonymous
North Jackson is over by West Park and the west tennis courts. Take the first street past the Railroad tracks past habitat Re-store and the old United Way building. The business is about 3 blocks down the street…
It seems to me that this expansion will really put a burden on the neighbors and no place for the employees to park…
thank you for your kind response. Where will all this employee’s park?
oh wait at $9.50/hour they will be like the blowhart John Skipper and have to fetch rides from family, friends and public transportation
anyone else notice john skipper defending the city policy of handouts to bookmeyer’s friends?
that’s real professionalism huh (almost as good as FOX News)
No wonder our city is over budget. You can just not keep on giving away the tax base to all your friends. Pretty soon there will be no business that is a friend of the mayor that will be paying taxes for the next 10 years. This is BULL. Impeach this crooked mayor and the whole council.
To bad the guy is a complete A-HOLE
This is why we pay taxes…so other people don’t have to.
This whole thing just stinks. Adam Gold is just as mean spirited and entitled as the mayor. Gold exists on his dads money. Mayor exists on his physician wife’s money. Without the backing neither of them could put food on the table. Karma is a bitch and if not on this earth– on the other side… The funny thing is that this is such a small town. These people would be nothing in a real metro area…Small fish in a big pond. Now– imagined big fish in a small pond. & arrogant asses at…
arent these two characters the past presidents of the Mason City Country Club?
word is 25 plus members resigned (10%)
word is the club is terrible financial shape?
word is the former golf pro left with lots of member money, didnt pay creditors and lots of other stories.. So yes i predict this agreement blows up!
Not surprising at all. What would you expect from Bookmeyer close personal friend.. Take take take…
Just another business to boycott because they are sucking the fabric out of Mason
Here are my questions how many employees do they employee now? How many of those people are “family members” or close friends?
I noticed last year an aquistion was done with grants & tax breaks, were the DG financials verified or bank statements anaylized to make sure this is a viable business to…
10 jobs x 9.50 per hour x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks a year = $197,600 per year in net pay. A one time $250,000 tax credit for an addition, which isn’t there, so we aren’t getting the tax to begin with, sounds like a decent deal.
you are a fool
please explain
I believe you mean gross pay.
make no mistake….adam gold is one of bookies best friends not just a drinking buddy but a good friend. The whole thing is just more cronyism when it comes to our tax dollars…the rich get richer and we are all paying the price.
Can’t wait to see the outcome of this agreement. Hopefully the city will become the owner of this property when he defaults. I have heard that he doesn’t treat his employees very well…but that’s just hearsay…
I like the photo caption “…with an assistant”
Like this is some great man, that when others are in his presence should bow and be thankful to be near him.
I hope the city follows up regularly to make sure all the “t’s” are crossed and the “i’s” dotted in this agreement.
The best way to do business is to get other people to pay for it, some way and some how.