SALISBURY — The Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted on Monday to approve two separate incentives packages for “Project Aviation,” the nickname for Aerowood Aviation’s proposed move into the Mid-Carolina Regional Airport.

Scott Shelton, vice-president of the Rowan EDC, presented the proposal to the commissioners. He said that Aerowood Aviation is proposing to lease hangar and office space in the Mid-Carolina Regional Airport. The company expects to create nine full-time jobs and invest at least $15 million in property.

The proposal called for a tiered tax incentive grant that would return different amounts of taxes paid depending on the amount of investment the company puts into property. Year one would provide a 90 percent return on a minimum of $5,500,000 of investment, year two would provide 85 percent on $10,500,000 and year three would provide 80 percent on $15,000,000. 

Years four through 10 would have different tiers based on the investments the company makes. Eighty percent of taxes would be returned on investments up to $15,000,000, 75 percent between $15,000,001 and $25,000,000, 70 percent between $25,000,001 and $50,000,000 and 65 percent on investments over $50,000,000.

The company would also receive grants for the first three years based on jobs created. It would receive $3,500 per job up to seven jobs in year one and $2,750 per job for up to nine jobs in years two and three. Shelton said the jobs grant would help offset the lease cost for the hangar space.

Commissioner Judy Klusman asked Shelton if the EDC was aware of the income of the jobs being offered, to which he answered that he did not have an exact number but that the income was expected to be well over the county average of approximately $52,000.

After the tax incentives are returned to the company and the job grants are disbursed, the county would expect to pull in a profit of approximately $1.98 million from the hangar lease and $151,525 on property taxes. Shelton said the county could also expect to earn revenue from fuel sales and other sales taxes but that amount could not be quantified by the EDC.

Chairman Greg Edds said that the incentives to bring in Aerowood were part of a concerted strategy the county is undertaking to fill up the corporate hangars in the airport. Filling up that side of the airport would allow the county to move forward with engaging the state and federal governments in expanding it further.

“The value of that to us is we can go to North Carolina Department of Transportation’s airport division and the FAA, because we have lots of room on the west side. So, we can begin to talk about state and federal funding for a new terminal, for new corporate hangars on that side. So, this is all part of a longer-term strategy to modernize the airport with modern terminals, with modern hangars and to help develop this as best we can,” Edds said.

Edds also said that the county needs to be able to show that they are willing to invest in the airport and fill all of its hangars before the NCDOT and FAA will be willing to assist further.

“This is an exciting time for Mid-Carolina Regional. It’s only going to grow, because like it or not, Charlotte is coming at us at 100 miles an hour and nobody wants to fly out of Charlotte anymore. They want to fly to the smaller airports. I’m really excited about this and I think this is going to be a major coup for the county,” said Commissioner Craig Pierce, who is also the board’s liaison to the Airport Advisory Board.

Edds said that Aerowood is an established name that hopes to bring in flight schools, repair and maintenance facilities as well as serving as the charter service for the Charlotte Hornets.

At the end of the discussion, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the incentive packages.