YOUNGSTOWN — City council voted 6-1 in favor of a 75-percent tax abatement for the Youngstown Tool and Die Co., which wants to spend $10.1 million on an expansion at a vacant building.

Council met virtually Wednesday to approve the abatement legislation, which was in three parts.

The first part repealed a 10-year abatement for the company approved by council July 31, 2018, when it was going to build a new facility.

The second ordinance allowed Youngstown Tool and Die to use the remaining two-plus years left on the abatement at the building it will relocate to that was originally given to Exterran Energy Solutions Inc., the former tenant that went out of business in March 2016.

The third proposal authorized the board of control to enter into a five-year tax abatement extension with Youngstown Tool and Die at the 2572 Salt Springs Road property.

Councilwoman Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward, was the lone no vote against all three pieces of legislation.

“I felt there was a better way to do it,” she said. “I wasn’t comfortable with our procedures. I would have liked us to address it as a whole rather than in pieces. It should have been more clear and more concise.”

But because there was an unexpired tax abatement on the property, the city had to use the existing one and could add up to five more years after getting the school district’s approval, Councilman Mike Ray, D-4th Ward, said.

“You can’t do a new abatement, but you can transfer it,” he said. “I don’t know why anyone was against it. The intent of the abatement is to generate tax dollars. We’re not generating revenue with a vacant building.”

Youngstown Tool and Die plans to move from its current location at 1261 Poland Ave. to the former Exterran property. The Salt Springs location is 60,000 square feet, about three times the size of the company’s 22,000-square-foot current building at 1261 Poland Ave.

Youngstown Tool and Die plans to increase the number of workers from 46 to 100 in three years.

Exterran, which made equipment for the gas and oil industry, received a 10-year tax abatement from the city. But Exterran went out of business in March 2016. The building has been vacant since then.

With the abatement, Youngstown Tool and Die — which makes custom designed aluminum extrusion dies — would pay $23,180 annually in property taxes and save $69,540 per year.

Also Wednesday, council voted 5-2 on grass cutting contracts for up to $49,500 each with Kristoph’s Lawn Care and Art’s Lawn Care and Landscaping, both of Youngstown, after waiving formal bidding. The two companies cut grass last year for the city.

Turner and Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th Ward, voted against the proposal meaning it passed, but not by emergency. Legislation not approved by emergency has to wait 30 days to take effect, meaning it may take time to get the grass cut.

Turner said these contracts “weren’t clear and concise,” and the city administration should have addressed this earlier.

“It’s an emergency now, but we knew grass cutting was coming,” she said.

Ray said: “I hope the administration is finding a way to cut grass. It will be more costly for us to wait because then we’d have to brush-hog the lots.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com