YOUNGSTOWN — City council on Wednesday will consider refunding $277,031 in income taxes over three years to a company adding 90 jobs as well as authorizing $210,200 in American Rescue Plan funding on four projects and finally deciding on a city-run ambulance service study.

The proposed deal with Trivium Aluminum Packing USA Corp. at 1 Performance Place is a job creation grant agreement with the company going from 345 employees to 435 and increasing its annual payroll to at least $6 million no later than December 2024.

The proposal would allow Trivium to get a 75% rebate on the 2.75% income tax paid by new employees in 2024, to be given to the company March 30, 2025. That is a $121,688 savings.

The rebate would drop to 50% in 2025, to be paid March 30, 2026, and save the company $97,804.

The rebate would then go to 25% in 2026, to be paid March 30, 2027, and save the company $57,539.

The company is expected to pass the rebate to its employees, city officials said.

Trivium produces aluminum containers for major food, beverage and personal care products.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a tax credit in January, worth about $725,000, for a planned $40 million expansion project of two additional product lines at Trivium.

This is the first time the city council is considering an income tax rebate for a company already based in Youngstown.

City council last year approved an income tax rebate agreement, worth about $412,500 in total, with Steelite International, to move its corporate headquarters from New Castle, Pa., to downtown Youngstown. The city signed a five-year agreement with Steelite that gives it a 100% income tax rebate in the first year and drops to 75% in the second year, 50% in the third and fourth years and 25% in the fifth year.

Steelite will give the rebates to the 60 or so employees relocating to Youngstown. Steelite makes china, glassware, buffet equipment, lighting and other products for the hospitality industry.

ARP PROPOSALS

Council will also consider four proposals, totaling $210,200, using money from its American Rescue Plan fund.

A proposal to spend $100,000, sponsored by Councilman Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward, has been postponed twice for an expansion project at New Bethel Baptist Church, 1507 Hillman St. The money would be used to renovate the church’s former sanctuary and turn it into a multipurpose community center.

The city law department wants a memorandum of understanding with the church that it won’t use the community center for religious activities.

Council’s finance committee had planned to meet sometime this week to discuss it further before Wednesday’s meeting, but nothing was scheduled. It remains on council’s agenda for adoption.

Two other ARP allocations are for the board of control to hire consultantsfor park work. Council set aside $10.5 million in ARP dollars last year for park improvements.

One ordinance would be to spend up to $37,500 for design work for the rehabilitation of Falls Park on Falls Road in the 1st Ward and the other is $43,500 for design work for renovations to Lynn Park on Lynn Road in the 7th Ward.

Council will also consider paying $29,200 to Gibbs Construction Inc., a Warren company, for the emergency demolition of a city-owned building and garage at 2301 Market St. and to grade the property.

OTHER BUSINESS

Council will vote Wednesday on two ordinances regarding a long-delayed feasibility study on a Youngstown-run ambulance service. A study was first proposed in February and plans have been repeatedly referred by council to its safety committee.

The safety committee on Sept. 28 recommended council reject legislation to authorize the board of control to advertise for proposals and enter into a contract with a consultant to perform the study at a cost not to exceed $50,000.

That’s because safety committee members asked that a review of city fire station locations and where to put a possible safety-service campus be added to the proposal.

The administration proposed council approve at its July 31 meeting an ordinance to have the board of control enter into a $65,000 contract with Public Consulting Group LLC of Boston to do that work.

But council members said they wanted the administration to advertise for proposals and not award the contract to a specific company without doing that.

The safety committee forwarded the $65,000 contract with Public Consulting to council without a recommendation.

Council on June 5 rejected paying $50,000 to Public Consulting for the ambulance study.

Some council members were critical of the plan, the failure to get competitive proposals and that fire Chief Barry Finley found Public Consulting after doing a Google search.

While waiting for council’s decision, the administration is seeking requests for proposals for the expanded contract with a Nov. 15 deadline.

Finley said at a June 22 safety committee meeting that it is not financially feasible for the city to operate its own ambulance service, but he would abide by the study’s results.

Council will vote Wednesday on three ordinances requested by municipal court officials to approve raises of between 23.6% and 31.2% for the court’s security officers and coordinators.

The safety committee at the Sept. 28 meeting recommended the proposals be rejected by council because the salary increases are too high.

The positions are for 1,500 hours a year so the annual salaries of 28 deputy bailiff spots — nine are currently vacant — would go from $28,531 to $37,500 under this proposal. The annual salary of the assistant coordinator would go from $31,103 to $38,443 and the deputy coordinator’s annual salary would increase from $33,625 to $41,628.

dskolnick@vindy.com