Ohio’s Tax Credit Authority has green-lit a job creation tax credit for Cohen & Company that will help the Cleveland-based financial advisory services firm expand its northeast Ohio offices, including Youngstown, where more than half of the new jobs will be based.
Also Monday, the state gave LG Chem America, Inc. a similar tax credit for a proposed manufacturing and research development center in Ravenna in Portage County.
Cohen & Company plans to create 61 new jobs with an annual payroll of $6.4 million at its offices in Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown to support clients and company offices across the U.S. The 1.5 percent credit is for six years and is worth an estimated $500,000.
More than 30 of the new jobs are planned for the Youngstown office, said Chris Bellamy, Cohen & Company president.
“We’re focused on doubling the size of of our office there,” Bellamy said. The growth will happen over the next three years to support clients outside the region.
Part of the reason Cohen and Company chose Youngstown is because of the relationship the company has with Youngstown State University. They have a work skills development partnership that goes back about six years, Bellamy said.
Ohio was competing with Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania for the project that will also help Cohen & Company retain $24.8 million in existing payroll. As part of the agreement, the state requires Cohen & Company to maintain operations at the locations for at least nine years.
In Ravenna, LG Chem, a division of LG focused on producing ABS, a heat and impact resistant compound used in several applications, from toys to home appliances to auto parts, plans to build a new facility to provide ABS for mostly the electric-vehicle supply chain, according to the state.
LG Energy Solution, a company connected to LG, is with General Motors building a $2.3 billion electric-vehicle battery-cell manufacturing plant in Lordstown with production set to begin in August.
The 1.5 percent, eight-year tax credit is on $4.7 million in new payroll. LG plans to create 72 new jobs by 2025. The credit is worth an estimated $540,000. LG Chem must operate in Ravenna for at least 11 years.
Ohio was competing with Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania for the project, according to the state. Helping the project was Ravenna through a 100 percent 15-year tax abatement.
The two credits were among 10 approved by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority for projects across the state that will help create 946 jobs and retain 2,485 jobs, according to the governor’s office. The projects are expected to result in more than $50 million in new payroll and spur more than $296 million in investments in Ohio.
The credits are performance-based credits, so the actual value of the credit is based on jobs created and new payroll tax generated as verified by the state, according to the Ohio Department of Development, which contains the tax credit authority.
