Manufacturer seeks tax break, plans to add 100 jobs

Applied Composites Engineering Inc., an Indianapolis-based manufacturer of products for the aerospace industry, is planning to spend $2.5 million on equipment that would help it double its work force over the next six years.

ACE, which employs 96 at its facility at 705 S. Girls School Road, near Indianapolis International Airport, said the new manufacturing equipment will let it retain 96 employees and add another 104 before the end of 2019. The positions, it said, pay an average wage of more than $21 per hour.

The 30-year-old company has asked the Metropolitan Development Commission for a tax abatement on the personal property, which would save ACE nearly $110,000 over six years.  The company would pay almost $60,000 in personal-property taxes on the new equipment during that time, plus another $22,000 annually after the abatement period.

ACE said it needs the equipment, which will be used to make and repair carbon fiber airplane parts, to stay competitive in the aerospace industry.

The Department of Metropolitan Development is backing the tax break. The MDC is expected to hear the proposal  Dec. 4. The plan also will require approval of the City-County Council because ACE is in a tax-increment finance district.

ACE was founded as a racing and automotive tolling and support business, but switched gears in the mid-2000s.

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