Last night the LaPorte County Council met for their first business as usual meeting of the year. Their regular meeting scheduled for last week was postponed due to severe weather.
The big news of the night was approval of a five year tax abatement for Dollar General's proposed distribution center in Westville. The abatement is on $8.5 million dollars in equipment at the over 250,000 square foot facility... which will generate over $2 million in wages.
Tax abatement was approved in October on the $24 million dollars investment being made in the facility.
In other financial matters, the Council approved a $1.2 million appropriation for the Sheriff's Office pension fund.
Also, $87,000 was approved to outfit a new ambulance with equipment. The ambulance itself was donated last year by a local benefactor and should be ready to roll in April.
And the Council approved the purchase of a new state-of-the-art street sweeper for the county. That mean machine costs a cool $265,000.
In all, expenditures totalling over $1.6 million were approved for about ten county departments.