Structural Concepts Corporation of Norton Shores Tuesday was given the maximum property tax cut allowed by law on $721,000 the firm is investing in new laser machines.

Company Treasurer Tammi Terpenning said the investment is expected to create 15 full-time jobs and allow the refrigerated display case manufacturer to continue to grow and remain competitive with out-of-state businesses.

She told the Norton Shores City Council that Structural Concepts hopes the lasers permit the business to avoid having to buy a completed product from China. The new equipment is expected to boost sales and prompt construction next spring of a 50,000-square-foot addition to the plant at 888 Porter, Terpenning said.

The city council granted the firm a tax break of 50 percent for 12 years on the investment in new equipment, but was criticized for doing so by two citizens. Terry Simon, 4462 Lake Harbor, and Arnold Kelm, 391 E. Pontaluna, said the city shouldn't provide tax breaks to industry at a time when it has repeatedly asked voters to approve higher property tax millage limits.
Simon ran unsuccessfully in 2005 for mayor and Kelm is a longstanding critic of city policy.

Kelm asserted that all taxpayers should get "equality under the law," and firms shouldn't be given a tax break "that use it to pad their bottom line."

Simon said city officials complain they don't have enough tax revenue to hire enough police and firefighters or to repair roads. But he said he has never seen the city council turn down tax breaks for industries that he asserted might not need them to remain in Norton Shores.

Terpenning said Structural Concepts didn't ask for a tax cut to "pad its bottom line." The business, which moved to Norton Shores 12 years ago and employs 350 people, needs the tax reduction to remain competitive by offering better prices to customers, she said.

Simon also questioned the council's recent purchase of six acres on Grand Haven Road for $207,000. The investment is intended to start rebuilding a supply of city-owned industrial land that could be sold at cost to industries considering locating in the city. The property at 5612 Grand Haven Road is adjacent to another piece the city is considering acquiring.

Money for both parcels is to come from the Tax Increment Finance Authority district the city created along Grand Haven and Sternberg roads in the early 1990s. Increases in property tax revenue since then have been pumped into improvements for that area, such as road paving and construction of the new fire station on Pontaluna Road.

City officials defended their industrial tax cut policy and their recent decision to begin buying more industrially zoned property.

Mayor Jerry Wiersma and Community Development Director Richard Maher said those practices help create jobs, which is an essential role for the city. They estimated that 185 jobs were created within the past two years by firms that were awarded industrial tax breaks in the city.