Fri Feb 10 2012
by Jeff Saunders
Reporter
Macedonia -- One city's loss is another's gain, as Macedonia expects to lose more jobs when a Texas-based beauty salon product company moves its Highland Road office to Hudson.
Macedonia officials fear the change could leave the city short another $100,000 in annual income tax revenue.
Jan Roberts, a spokesperson for Beauty Systems Group, said that the facility also has a store on the premises, but could not give details on how many employees would be moving or staying by press time.
"The office portion will be moving to Hudson, but the store will be remaining," said Roberts.
The store caters exclusively to professional customers and will be remodeled, Roberts said.
Mayor Don Kuchta said a company official informed him of the move by phone July 16.
"They've been a staple of this community for a long time," said Kuchta. "Many of our local people, beauty salons, use their products."
Kuchta, however, said that business at the facility has "been declining."
According to Finance Director Loren Sengstock, the company was in the top 15 companies in the city in terms of tax withholding, with the city collecting about $100,000 annually. But, he said the company was among the top 10 employers in 2007 and it has reported losses.
Kuchta said that the loss of any jobs in the city is worrisome, especially after Graco Children's Products, one of the city's top five employers, announced in June it plans to close its Valley View Road plant, laying off 153 employees by the end of the year.
Sengstock said the city has collected an average of about $230,000 annually in income tax revenue from the company.
The company is looking for an existing building in Hudson between 10,000 and 12,000 square feet for their 37 employees and would like to move as soon as possible, according to Hudson Economic Development Director Chuck Wiedie said.
Hudson did not recruit Beauty Systems Group to move into the city, Wiedie stressed.
"This is sensitive to us," he said. "We don't want to be viewed as someone who encourages businesses to move from one community to another, but if the other community can't help them, we don't want them to move out of Summit County."
A Realtor approached the city when Beauty Systems Group was looking at some properties in Hudson, according to Wiedie.
"They wanted to talk about support the city could give to help facilitate the move," he said.
The city met with representatives from the company, who shared information about the company and its needs, Wiedie said. The city told Beauty Systems Group to first discuss options with the city of Macedonia, he said.
"We've talked to them in general terms, but no formal offer of an incentive has been made at this time," he said on July 26.
Editor's note: Reporter Laura Freeman contributed to this story.
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
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