The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Waiting game continues at ACH
Public affairs director speaks to members of chamber of commerce
By Brian Coxm, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 17, 2007
Any Saline business or civic leader who attended a Saline Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon last Thursday expecting to hear new — and hopefully encouraging — information on the future of the former Visteon manufacturing plant was in for a letdown.
Advertisement
Automotive Component Holdings LLC's public affairs director, Della DiPietro, who was the speaker May 10 before a sold-out crowd of about 60 people gathered in the Brecon Village Community Room, was upfront about having little news on the manufacturing plant's uncertain prospects.
"Who would want to come (to the luncheon) when I have nothing new to say?" she said. "I have no crystal ball and no guarantees."
She did provide assurances, however, that ACH executives, who have been tasked with selling or closing 17 former Visteon plants by the end of 2008, are doing all they can to find a buyer for the Saline facility, which employs around 1,100 workers (See www.heritage.com for video coverage of her talk).
"We've had some solid progress," she said. "(The Saline plant's high quality) offers a lot as we look for buyers. There has been double-digit improvements in efficiency, which is attractive to potential buyers."
The plant opened in Saline in 1996 as a Ford Motor Co. facility before it was spun off in 2000 to become Visteon. Visteon's eventual financial difficulties and a real threat of bankruptcy prompted Ford to buy back the plant and 16 others in 2005. Ford formed ACH with the sole purpose of selling or closing the properties by the end of next year.
"The prospect of closure of Saline's ACH plant would be a serious loss in this community," said the Saline Chamber Executive Director Larry Osterling. "It's shaping up to be our Pfizer."
DiPietro said her company understands the plant's closure would have on the community.
"I know that a business reality is also a personal reality," she said.
Tax revenue from ACH accounts for approximately 9 percent of the city's operating budget. The company is currently appealing its personal property tax rate before the Michigan Tax Tribunal, seeking a reduction in the vicinity of 80 percent, a move that would devastate municipal budgets.
Saline officials recently negotiated an agreement with ACH to reduce the plant's real estate taxable value from around $15 million to a little more than $10 million. The settlement provides ACH a savings of almost $650,000 for the taxable years of 2006 and 2007. Over the two years, the city's budget alone will take a hit of $162,225 in lost tax revenue.
"The impact is already being felt," said City Manager Larry Stoever, adding that the city has been forced to cut $630,000 out of next year's budget.
Closure of the plant would be a crushing blow to the city's finances.
DiPietro said a decision on the Saline plant's fate would be made by the end of this year.
"We have a very good plant," said UAW Local 892 President Mark Caruso. "We provide quality at that plant. We haven't thrown in the towel and we're not going to."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
