A growing Delaware firm will get a tax break in exchange for expanding its home and its workforce.
Delaware City Council on Jan. 22 approved a 15-year, 50 percent property-tax abatement on improvements planned at Wolfrum Roofing and Exteriors' facility at 132 Johnson Drive. Under the incentive agreement, the business pledged to undertake a $600,000 project to renovate and expand the existing building by 8,000 square feet.
The firm also agreed to retain 55 existing employees and hire the equivalent of five additional full-time employees within three years of the abatement taking effect. The company estimated the additional hiring will lead the company's payroll to increase by $400,000 annually, according to city records.
Wolfrum Roofing and Exteriors is expected to save slightly less than $92,000 on its property taxes over the course of the agreement.
Marty Cline, vice president of internal operations for Wolfrum, said the deal will give the company's workers space to breathe.
Cline said the company had three in-office employees when it moved to Delaware in 2012. The firm's growth led the company to move to the building of about 12,000 square feet on Johnson Drive in 2016.
Cline said company officials mistakenly thought the building would meet the company's space needs for years to come.
"Right now, we have 15 offices and we have people doubled up in them. It's (growing) that fast," he said.
Cline said adding on to the existing building should allow the company to grow its business.
He said the firm's management plans to move forward with the project "as fast as we can."
"We need people and we need spaces to put them in," he said.
Sean Hughes, Delaware's economic development director, said he views the firm as a local success story.
"This is a company that's really grown in our city," Hughes said.
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