LAURINBURG — A local company is one step closer to receiving Scotland County incentives.
The Scotland County Board of Commissioners gave its official approval for an incentive package for Edwards Wood Products at its monthly meeting on Monday.
According to County Economic Development Director Mark Ward, Edwards Wood Products has completed one-third of its job creation to qualify for the incentives, creating 31 new full-time jobs within the county in the last two years.
“They are to create 90 jobs and, when they hit that goal, they will be eligible for the incentives and it will not have to go through the commissioners again,” said Ward.
Also in the last two years, the county has worked with the company to receive incentives from the state of North Carolina.
Now that Edwards Wood Products has a package approved by the board, it still has to fulfill 100 percent of the job creation goal, $50 million in investment targets and pay its property taxes before it will receive the benefits.
Ward explained the seven-year incentive package Edwards Wood Products is working to gain.
“They will be entitled to 100-percent of their property taxes paid back to them for the first two years,” said Ward. “The percentage would decrease by 10 percent over the next five years. So, the third year they would receive 90 percent, the fourth 80 percent (decreasing to) 50 percent by the seventh year.”
He added the package would be worth $1.5 million roughly over the seven-year period.
Edwards Wood Products was founded in 1969 in Marshville by Carroll Edwards. The company is currently owned and led by his son, Jeff Edwards, and is a group of six companies. Edwards Wood Products has recently invested in the community by adding on to their existing facility in Laurinburg. Other locations are Peachland, Liberty, Marshville, and Manning, South Carolina.
Jael Pembrick can be reached at 910-506-3169 or [email protected].
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