Orange County Commissioners are scheduled to vote Tuesday on tax incentives for Swiss manufacturing company ABB, Inc. at a special meeting of the county board.

The performance-based incentive package on the table is worth a possible total of approximately $970,000 over five years and seeks to encourage ABB to expand their existing 400,000-square-foot facility located just east of Mebane.

County Commissioner Mark Marcoplos said the commissioners were excited about this economic opportunity for the county and that tax incentives are a vital part of how local governments everywhere encourage investment from outside companies.

“It works for everybody,” Marcoplos said. “And you know, in this day and age, it’s just something that happens everywhere. It’s hard to figure out how to actually be competitive in economic recruitment without doing some kind of incentives.”

The performance-based agreement would mean ABB receives money back only after it has demonstrated growth in its county property tax evaluations.

Marcoplos said Orange County could stand to make more than $300,000 over five years from the proposed incentive package, but the local benefits don’t end there.

“These things snowball,” Marcoplos said. “The more companies that locate here, or decide to expand here, the more activity we see from other companies that are interested.”

According to county documents, the proposed tax incentives played a role in the company’s decision to expand in Orange County. ABB also considered Mississippi as a possible location for the expanded facility.

A representative from ABB will be at the special meeting July 23 at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough to give a presentation and answer questions from commissioners and members of the public. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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