Madison County Approves One-Third Property Tax Break for $70 Million Gluckstadt Manufacturing Expansion
MADISON COUNTY — The Madison County Board of Supervisors approved a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement Tuesday for a $70 million manufacturing expansion in Gluckstadt — a deal the county’s outside counsel said reduces ordinary property taxes on the new facility by one-third.
The agreement was presented during the board’s July 28 budget work session. A presenter told supervisors the project would create 30 new jobs paying an average of about $65,000 a year and retain roughly 104 existing positions. “This project is about $70 million,” the presenter said.
The board approved the agreement by voice vote.
Under Mississippi law, counties may grant a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for projects of at least $60 million. The negotiated fee must be no less than one-third of the property taxes otherwise due, and an agreement may run for up to 30 years — though no single parcel or item of property may be covered for more than 10 years.
The vote came one day after the Mississippi Development Authority announced that Griesson – de Beukelaer, a family-owned German cookie and snack manufacturer, will invest more than $70.37 million in Madison County and create 30 new jobs. That project includes a new 130,000-to-150,000-square-foot facility in Madison and the acquisition and renovation of an existing facility in Gluckstadt, with state assistance through the MFLEX incentive program alongside Madison County and the Madison County Economic Development Authority.
At another point in the session, the board heard that the county expects to save about $140,000 this budget year after canceling a $200,000-a-year mental health services contract with Region 8. “We are on pace this year to save about $140,000 in mental health costs as a result of cancelling that contract,” the county’s budget officer told supervisors. The mental health court budget line remains funded at $200,000 to cover other medical costs.