fbpx
published on June 24, 2016 - 1:01 AM
Written by

Airgas Specialty Products, an industrial gas manufacturer, last week was selected as one of three Central Valley companies to receive state tax credits from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or GO-Biz.
The $70,000 tax credit is meant to aid Airgas in expanding its business by adding 19 new employees through 2020, fueled through a $3.15 million investment the company has pledged to make. The application for the tax credit stated the expansion would take place in Hanford.
It would bring Airgas’s footprint to 59 people.


The only hitch is that Airgas currently does not have a Hanford location. Sources say Airgas officials are negotiating for a plant site in the Hanford Industrial Park.
Jay Salyer with the Kings County Economic Development Corporation said the company is in escrow on a property. An Airgas spokesman did not return calls.
As part of the tax credit agreement the company said the average full time salary will be $40,000 at the Hanford plant.
Airgas is the nation’s largest distributor of welding, medical, and specialty gases, and a leading producer of carbon dioxide, dry ice, and nitrous oxide. Officials with the Pennsylvania-based company recently signed an agreement to be acquired by French-owned Air Liquide, the world’s leader in industrial gases.
The Airgas tax credit was part of a the most recent GO-Biz California Competes package that totaled $46.7 million in tax credits for 67 companies expanding and creating jobs in California.
Other local companies receiving a credit include The TALK Team, Inc. of Fresno, a provider of speech therapy services. It plans to add 13 full-time employees in the next several years with a $238,500 investment.
The TALK Team was awarded $75,000 tax credit.
Two Q, Inc. of Fresno was awarded a $100,000 tax credit, outlining in its application that the online marketing and advertising firm plans to expand its workforce from 19 to 31 by 2020.
TWO Q, doing business as JP Marketing, also plans to invest $105,800 in furniture and fixtures, software, computer equipment and tenant improvements as part of the program.


e-Newsletter Signup

Our Weekly Poll

Do you think Valley Children's Hospital will lose financial support due to CEO pay revelations?
86 votes

Central Valley Biz Blogs

. . .