The Wright City Board of Aldermen heard a proposal on behalf of Avtask in Wright City requesting a tax abatement agreement for the purchase of new equipment and a facility expansion. 

Avtask, located in Wright City’s industrial park, is a military contractor that specializes in refurbishing and repairing helicopter blades for Boeing’s Chinook Helicopters. 

The blades of the helicopters accumulate moisture during their use and Avtask has developed proprietary technology that can remove the moisture from the blades, significantly increasing their useful life. 

“Avtask is a company in our industrial park, and what they do is they repair helicopter blades for the Chinook helicopters for Boeing, and they’re the only company in the United States that has this contract,” said Mayor Michelle Heiliger. 

Jacob Surratt, a representative with Steadfast City and Community Development, was speaking on behalf of Avtask at the meeting and said they have outgrown their current facility and need to continue building in order to remain in Wright City. 

Surratt said their current facility is roughly 52,000 square feet and the company has been slowly adding on to the building as space has been needed like “an 1800s house.”

“They can no longer squeeze anything else into that building. They have made it work,” said Surratt. “They have expanded multiple times.”

He emphasized that the company is committed to remaining in Wright City and has purchased an additional lot directly to the north of their building in order to expand. 

He also pointed out that many of their employees are local and they are an employee-owned company. Surratt said they have also been working with the Wright City R-II School District to develop a talent pipeline since the blade tech positions at the facility do not require a college degree and offer strong pay and benefits. 

Surratt said they are looking to expand their facility with a new 75,000 square foot building that he said would be a roughly $13 million investment in the area. 

“They did an exhaustive search for existing buildings all the way into St. Peters, up to Troy, obviously here in Warren County as well,” said Surratt. “They are very clear they want to stay here as an employee-owned company.”

Surratt said the company is requesting a tax abatement on real and personal property under the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s Chapter 100 provision. 

Chapter 100 agreements allows developers to establish tax abatement agreements with municipalities when the costs of new construction or expansion would otherwise be prohibited. 

Surratt said without any tax abatements, the company would have to pay roughly $1.62 per square foot of the building in taxes in the first 10 years. 

He said they are requesting a 90% abatement for the property and new equipment purchased with the expansion for non-emergency taxing entities like the city, school district and county, and a 50% abatement from those taxes for the Wright City Fire Protection District and Warren County Ambulance District for the first 10 years. 

Surratt said if those agreements were approved, their tax burden would decrease to roughly 33 cents per square foot, allowing them to expand and continue operating in Wright City. 

Surratt said he has meetings scheduled with other taxing entities in the county as well. The Wright City aldermen felt they needed time to consider the agreement before they put it to a vote. 

The board voted to postpone a decision on the tax abatement agreement to their July 10 meeting.