County commission hears support, opposition for dairy company tax break

A tax break proposal for a potential dairy company to build a processing plant in Columbia is in the hands of the Boone County Commission, which had a first reading of the proposal at its meeting Thursday.

Colorado-based Aurora Organic Dairy is requesting a 75 percent tax abatement over the next 10 years to build a processing and distribution plant on Waco Road, next to the Kraft plant. Company leaders have confirmed that there are no plans to have cows or a dairy farm on the land.

Kraft Heinz is the only other company in Boone County to receive a 75 percent property tax abatement through the use of Chapter 100 bonds. Kraft is among the three currently benefiting from Chapter 100 bonds, including ABC Labs and Dana Light Axle Products.

The taxing entities, including Columbia Public Schools and Daniel Boone Regional Library, could receive about $1.7 million in abated property tax during that time.

The entities voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend approval, because they said they would rather have some tax revenue than none at all, since the land is currently not generating any tax.

One resident, Ken Midkiff, said at the commission meeting that a 75 percent abatement was too high, and was more of a “bribe.”

“There’s the door,” he said during public comment.

City leaders have said that AOD’s plant project was mostly contingent on the 75 percent abatement.

Darin Preis, the Chapter 100 representative for CPS, spoke in favor of approval, citing the approximately 150 high-paying jobs the company anticipates will be created over the next few years.

Preis also said he hoped Aurora Organic Dairy would be a partner in education with the school district.

John Beutler, the vice president of Plant Operations for AOD, said the company associates are active members of the Chamber of Commerce in Platteville, as well as the school district.

Opponents of the proposal, including two Boone County dairy farmers, said they thought the plan would hurt existing dairy farmers in the county.

Dennis Schnell has been operating a Grade-A, family dairy farm for almost 20 years, and said Thursday that a large-scale dairy farm, even if it’s organic, would still make machines out of its cows.

“This is not good for the community,” he said. “It will kill the dairy industry.”

Scott Dye, with the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, once again questioned the legality of the company’s organic label, something ABC17 News has reported.

Dye said he also had reservations about where the company was going to source their milk and was worried about surrounding counties,where zoning laws aren’t as strong, and that dairy farmers with small-scale farms could be put out of business.

AOD has consistently maintained that it will be bringing in the milk from Colorado so it can be processed and distributed to east coast customers.

“Our concern is they’re going to build extremely large-scale dairies here,” said Dye.

AOD representatives told commissioners that they would be willing to work with local dairy farmers to help them become organic if they wanted. The process takes about three years.

As a rebuttal to opposition, Chapter 100 Review Committee chair Dave Griggs spoke on behalf of the company and pointed out that there were several farmers with ‘Missouri Farmers Care’ that would be interested in partnering with AOD. Their website can be found here.

Commissioner Fred Parry said he wanted the company to commit to a solid donating plan to the Food Bank of Central Missouri. He said Kraft, another company with a 75 percent abatement, donates extra food to the food bank.

Chief Operating Officer Gary Sebek said the company would be open to it.

Other stipulations in the contract could include hiring equal numbers of men and women to work, as well as developing a plan for disabled residents to be able to work in the plant.

If AOD does not follow through on the job promise, it will lose the abatement.