Gary Redevelopment Commission
Final OK makes it possible for company to make upgrades to steel mills across US
The Gary Redevelopment Commission cast three votes of 5-0 each on resolutions that approve parts of the deal, which makes it possible for U.S. Steel to make significant upgrades to steel mills across the country — including the Gary Works plant that an executive said would remain a flagship of the company’s operations.
“We’re not making the same improvements at every plant,” said Paul Vercher, a governmental affairs director for U.S. Steel. “This move will ensure that Gary remains our largest operation.”
The deal calls for Gary to designate a portion of the Gary Works plant as a tax increment finance district that will put the property tax monies paid by U.S. Steel into a special fund, where the city can then give it back to U.S. Steel to pay for the improvements they want to make to the steel mill.
In exchange for the tax break, U.S. Steel will pay money into a special fund that will go directly to Gary city officials to help cover municipal expenses. The Gary Common Council, the Gary Community School Corp. and the Gary Public Library all will receive a portion of the funds.
The Common Council previously voted in favor of the deal, although the Redevelopment Commission also had to cast a vote in support before the deal could take effect. The agreement now will be filed with the state, meeting a Friday deadline.
Friday’s special meeting was open to the public, although only U.S. Steel executives were on hand. C.J. Girard, a consultant with Ernst & Young retained by U.S. Steel, said that while the steel mill will benefit from improvements that ensure it remains a technologically state-of-the-art plant, he thinks the city of Gary will wind up benefiting as well.
Aside from the revenues the deal will bring to Gary government, Girard said he thinks the fact that U.S. Steel is committing funds to improving the Gary plant ensure that it will remain a significant part of the company’s operations.
“It ensures that jobs will remain in Gary,” he said.
Vercher said that the company also intends to cooperate with Gary on various projects that could boost the economic development of the city, and will be listening largely to what Gary officials say are their priorities in terms of what should be done.
“The city will be telling us what direction they want us to go in,” Vercher said.
The Rev. Marion Johnson, commission member, said he was most concerned that employment. “One of my concerns with this deal is the jobs,” he said. “I don’t want there to be cutbacks.”
Vercher said it would be impossible to say there would be no reductions, he said, “if there were future cuts, we would want to keep as many people as possible employed at the most-advanced plants, and that is what Gary will become with these improvements.”
Commission member Adam Hall expressed concerns about recent reports of a blast furnace at the Gary Works plant being shut down. Vercher said that really was evidence of the need for improvements at the steel mill for it to remain a quality facility. Dayna Bennett, the chief of staff to Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, said the city could start seeing revenue related to the deal within a month, while A.J. Bytnar, the Redevelopment commission’s executive director, said the deal is a significant portion of overall plans meant to revitalize Gary city finances and enable the city to pay off its debts. In other business, the commission voted without opposition to approve an extra $5,320 in payments to Dunnet Bay Construction for work they’re doing with regards to the Buffington Harbor project.
Bytnar said that heavy rainfall this spring added to the costs of pumping, dewatering and lowering the groundwater elevation.
But Bytnar also said the project had been running under budget thus far, and likely would cover the added costs. Contractual requirements have set a March 2020 overall deadline for the project. “That means we can’t exactly wait for the area to dry up on its own,” he said.
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