10-23-13 fdl county board approves economic incentive package for alliance laundry

The Fond du lac County board has voted in favor of an incentive package to help a Ripon company expand.  At their meeting last night the board approved a resolution that authorizes the county to enter into a third party agreement between the County, Alliance Laundry Systems of Ripon and the Fond du lac County Economic Development Corporation to provide a six million dollar loan to Alliance Laundry.   County executive Al Buechel says it’s the same incentive package the county used to keep Mercury Marine in Fond du lac four years ago.  "And that was to offer the loan at our interest rate which is about three percent as opposed to the commercial rate, and then to provide job credits starting in 2016 for the jobs they create,"  Buechel said.  "We looked at other options but the savings on the interest for the company is where they get their biggest savings."   Buechel says the expansion would create 150 new jobs. Robert Wallace is the director of financial planning and internal reporting at Alliance Laundry.  "I'm ecstatic, I'm very pleased that the county board has continued to show support for the job growth that we have and are anticipating in Ripon, Wisconsin,"  Wallace told WFDL news.  "Our consumer laundry product is doing very well in the marketplace, but beyond that we've also seen a few growth opportunities that we hadn't looked at before.  The opportunity we were discussing tonight is a new avenue for product distribution." 

Wallace says construction is expected to start this fall.   Meanwhile the county board met in closed session last night after the regular meeting to discuss the possibility of another economic incentive package for a still unidentified second industry that is also looking to expand.