Support for this edition comes from La Scala. Missing La Scala? Welcome back! Brunch buffet tickets are on sale now. The menu is big. Seating is limited. Grab your brunch tickets now.
There was plenty to unpack from a pair of city council meetings on either side of the river Tuesday. Here’s some of what went on.
LAFAYETTE CITY COUNCIL
Caterpillar property tax abatement sail through on $980 million project: A pair of 10-year tax abatements for a proposed $980 million in equipment and upgrades Caterpillar is lining up for its Large Engine Center in Lafayette won unanimous approval from the Lafayette City Council.
The plans, spurred by growing demand for the company’s engines and generators for data centers and other uses, include $350 million in renovations and upgrades and another $540 million for manufacturing equipment at the South Street plant that produces diesel and natural gas engines.
The move comes two years after the council approved similar tax abatements for a $725 million expansion and new equipment at the Caterpillar plant.
“I don’t think is probably too hard to sell, so I won’t belabor it too much,” Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski told the city council Tuesday. “But $1.6 billion over a window of a few years is a substantial investment for our community.”
Eric Nieukirk, director of real estate and economic development for Caterpillar, told the council the $890 million project was “in the final considerations of investment.”
According to the paperwork submitted to the city, the project would not add to the 1,995 employees at the Lafayette facility. Nieukirk said the work, including some on equipment installed with the plant opened in 1982, would retain the current staffing levels.
“We appreciate the support that the council and the community have provided to our facility over the years, since year one,” Nieukirk said. “So, as we consider where to invest, we always want to look here at the Lafayette facility going forward.”
The tax breaks approved by the city would cut that real property and personal property taxes on the new equipment and renovations by 100% the first year, 90% the second year and reduce by 10% each of the following years in the next decade.
City claws back part of tax abatement for Fairfield Manufacturing equipment: After equipment was removed from the former Fairfield Manufacturing facility, when parent company Dana Corp. sold the facility to Allison Transmission, the city negotiated a $150,000 repayment of money the company saved in personal property taxes from an abatement approved in 2022.
The city council signed off on that arrangement, which accounted for what the city calculated to be 50% of the savings from the abatement. The rest of the years on the tax abatement offered by the city were wiped off the books, too, according to the agreement. Mayor Tony Roswarski said the original abatement included a memorandum of understanding that allowed the city to recapture some of the tax savings from the first three years of the deal.
“In what could have been a very challenging situation, I feel it ended up as good as we could all possibly ask for,” Roswarski said. “I felt everybody negotiated in good faith. Everybody was trying to do the right things and be reasonable about what they did, and I believe that this number represents that.”
Backyard chickens pass the test in Lafayette: No complaints surfaced Tuesday night about the first year of backyard chickens in Lafayette, just unanimous votes by the city council to continue to allow flocks of up to five hens behind homes in the city.
