Thanks to approval at Girard City Council, the Valley is now one step closer to a $1-billion expansion project for V&M that promises to bring hundreds of jobs to the Valley.
U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan thanked council personally. "We've done everything we needed to do. The two cities came together. The two counties came together. There was $20-million in federal stimulus dollars, so we all came together to make this thing happen and now we need to get a go sign from Paris, France and we'll be good to go."
Mayor James Melfi says there will be both short term and long term gains for the city of Girard. It's estimated the construction payroll for the project will generate $5.5-million in taxes over 18 months. Girard stands to gain $3-million of that, while Youngstown will see $2.5-million. Youngstown will also give Girard $400,000 for the city's waste water treatment plant. After that..."We will split 50/50 the payroll tax and any corporate profit that may occur," says Mayor Melfi.
Language has also been included in the contract that the nearly 200 acres Girard gave up to Youngstown could be returned to Girard if V&M decides not to use the Youngstown site for its expansion. If that happens, the stimulus money will be used for clean-up of the site, Youngstown and Girard would form a JEDD and split profits equally from any business that used the land.
Now all that's left in the Valley is for the Youngstown Board of Control to vote on the agreement. That will happen Tuesday night.
