NEW SCOTLAND — On July 24, at 4:30 in the afternoon, inside New Scotland Town Hall, the Albany County Industrial Development Agency will hold a public hearing on Atlas Copco’s request for $4.6 million in tax breaks for its $40 million expansion in Voorheesville. 

The company is seeking approximately $4.56 million in sales and property tax exemptions: a $2.94 million property tax break and $1.63 million in savings from sales and use taxes (on $20.3 million in purchases).

The School Road facility, which is operated by Atlas Copco Comptec, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate, manufactures centrifugal compressors used in major industrial plants.

The compressors have become an essential part of the burgeoning sector of American manufacturing that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and captures and sequesters carbon, including ethanol production, cement manufacturing, and power generation. These industries are able to reduce climate-changing greenhouse gases by capturing the carbon dioxide emissions and permanently storing it underground. 

But due to space constraints, Atlas Copco has been unable to make the larger compressors stateside, instead having to import them from its plants in Germany. 

To overcome these logistical challenges, Atlas Copco received permission from the village of Voorheesville to build a six-story, 54,000-square-f00t addition to its current 101,000-square-foot facility.

The facility’s proposed 60-foot height is needed for the type of cranes used in manufacturing Atlas Copco’s compressors; village code allowed buildings to be a maximum of only 40 feet. 

Digging into the rest of Atlas Copco’s application, The Enterprise found the company:

— States the project cost will be $40 million: $26 million for the new building, $11.1 million for equipment, $2.35 million toward sustainability, and $400,000 in architectural and engineering fees, all to be paid by Atlas Copco, and be completed by the end of 2026; 

— Would make annual PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) payments of $211,000 for 10 years, which would be $294,000 less per year than if it made regular tax payments of $505,000 on the new project; and

— Says the project would create 55 new full-time jobs with an annual salary range between $50,000 and $115,000, and an average annual salary of $70,000.