County Council approves POET for abatement
POET Biorefining has made no decision on whether it will resume production at its Cloverdale facility.
However, state and local officials are doing their best to offer incentives for POET to come back to Putnam County.
On Tuesday, the Putnam County Council approved a five-year abatement for the Cloverdale facility, should the company choose to resume corn-based ethanol production locally.
On the table were two possibilities for the Council to consider — a 10-year abatement with county taxes on personal property and real estate phased in for 10 percent more each year until completion and a five-year total abatement, in which the company would pay no such taxes for five years and then begin paying a full tax bill in the sixth year.
The Council, in a unanimous decision, ultimately chose the five-year plan, which also includes a “claw-back” option, which Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center Executive Director Kristin Clary explained means that if POET should shutter the facility before the term is up, the county can use legal action to get back all abated taxes.
This is important, as the facility has actually closed twice since 2008.
It first opened as Altra Biofuels in April 2008, but was shuttered eight months later. POET then acquired the property in 2010 and had a much better run before idling production in 2019.
At that time, POET had an ongoing abatement and the Council, though it did not pursue already abated taxes, did not grant future abatement on the property.
POET has already been approved for tax credits from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. should the Cloverdale site be chosen.
State and local officials hope that the tax breaks and other factors will be enough to woo the POET board to choose Cloverdale over facilities in Iowa and the company’s home base of South Dakota.
Should the Cloverdale facility be chosen, it would not only provide local jobs, but an outlet for local farmers to sell corn.
“It is a huge asset to farmers and to employees,” Clary said. “They pay well.”