Newton City Commissioners have approved a tax rebate economic development grant for Barkman Honey for an expansion project at its processing and manufacturing facility in Newton. The Hillsboro-based company is the largest honey packer in the United States, also operating facilities in Florida, New York and Ohio.
The company already warehouses much of its raw product in Newton, and the project will add a research and development facility in the Newton Industrial Park where owner Brent Barkman said they will be able to do small runs of things which don’t fit into their high-speed facilities in Hillsboro and Van Wert, Ohio.
Barkman will be making about a $4 million investment in the project, which will add 12 new employees over the next five years.
Normally a tax abatement would be requested from the city, but because the property in Newton is leased from a holding company it doesn’t pay property taxes. In lieu of that, the city will provide tiered annual rebates equal to the city’s share of assessed property taxes over three years up to a total of $15,500 subject to Barkman’s continued operations.
In other actions, the Commission awarded a $220,000 contact to Vogt’s Construction to remodel the current racquetball courts at the Newton Rec Center into a multi-use space, a project to be paid for by the Newton Recreation Commission.
It also approved a no-protest and access agreement with Prairie View allowing it to access utility services for the east-side expansion project through their existing campus. Under the agreement Prairie View waives its protest rights for possible future infrastructure extensions if it further develops the east side or another development south of their campus requires improvements.
