WILLMAR -- The Willmar City Council has approved the transfer of a tax abatement agreement to the new owner of Gurley's Foods. Gurley's parent company, Consolidated Biscuit Company of McComb, Ohio, was purchased May 11 by Hearthside Food Solutions of Downers Grove, Ill.
The transfer was recommended by the council's Community Development Committee and was approved by the council Monday night.
Hearthside controller, Joe Reiter of Willmar, along with a letter from Hearthside Foods, requested the transfer. Reiter said the Willmar facilities, employment and operations will remain the same as had been under the Gurley's Foods name.
The tax abatement allows a municipality to rebate all or a portion of the governmental jurisdiction's portion of the property tax back to a property taxpayer. Tax abatements are used as economic development inducements and Gurley's had sought the abatement as part of an expansion project.
The co-uncil ap-proved the abatement in 2004 for taxes payable from 2006 through 2015. The abatement is roughly $3,500 a year and applies only to the company's expansion project, explained Bruce Peterson, city planning and development services director.
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The agreement requires the city to review and approve any sale. The agreement gives the city the option to continue the abatement or suspend it, city officials said.
Gurley's Foods was established in 1953 in Willmar by Andy Goedert. Since 1953, ownership has changed a number of times, with management and production facilities remaining in Willmar.
Gurley's employs about 100 people and is a manufacturer of baking nuts, snack nuts and candy. Products produced at the Willmar location off U.S. Highway 12 East are distributed to grocery and convenience stores nationwide, according to a company history.
