NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Board of County Commissioners approved issuing around $5.5 million in Industrial Revenue Bonds at their meeting on Wednesday for APAC Kansas, Inc., formerly known as APAC Shears.
"We office out of here," said Shawn Riley with APAC Kansas. "We've been officing out of here for, next year will be 150 years. This company was started by Jay Shears back in 1874. We love the community. We've been a big part of the community. We employ a lot of people in the community. What we do is, we build roads. We don't build offices. That's not something we typically do. I've been with APAC for 36 years and this is the first opportunity we've had to actually build an office. We're pretty excited about it."
The building for APAC will be at the corner of G Avenue and Airport Road on property they currently own and that is located outside the city limits of Hutchinson.
"These IRBs are only being done to offer a property tax exemption on the new facility," said Sarah Steele with Gilmore & Bell, the bond counsel for the transaction. "It's not going to take anything off the tax rolls, and to offer a sales tax exemption on all of the materials being acquired for construction, plus any furnishings, things like that. They'll be able to use the sales tax exemption to get the project constructed, up and running, and then it terminates."
Debra Teufel with the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce spoke in support of the IRBs.
"We're really pleased that APAC is choosing this location to do this for a number of reasons, not just the investment and the jobs," Teufel said. "This is a division headquarters that allows them to bring people in to the community for training. They have several hundred employees across the state of Kansas and the region. This will be a place that, once they get it built out, they will be able to bring in teams from those other parts of their divisions to Hutchinson and have several overnight stays and really showcase Hutchinson and Reno County as the place for their headquarters for this division."
The motion to approve the IRBs passed unanimously.
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