PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The finance subcommittee on Tuesday supported a 10-year tax increment financing agreement for Interprint that is expected to save the company $482,000 over the next decade on an estimated $1.9 million more in valuation.

The TIF will provide 100 percent forgiveness of the incremental increase in property taxes resulting from the construction of a building expansion in the first and second years and decrease by 20 percent every two years.  The current valuation of the property is $5,580,300.

"We want to let Interprint know that we very much appreciate what the company has done for Pittsfield over the years," Business Development Manager Michael Coakley said, adding that the city wants to support the decorative printing company and keep them local.

Interprint announced last month that it will be investing $22 million into its Central Berkshire Boulevard facility for additional printing presses and is planning a 57,000-square-foot expansion.

The expansion will create 20 more jobs at the facility by 2025, bringing the company's staff to about 185.

With a separate $7 million investment to replace its oldest press with a new one capable of printing on both paper and film, it brings the total investment to about $28 million.

The company is also receiving $300,000 in state Economic Development Incentive Program credits through the state's Economic Assistance Coordinating Council.

Originally located on Pecks Road, Interprint has operated in the city since 1987 when Bill Hines, Sr. helped expand the German company by opening a second location in the United States.  The current facility on Central Berkshire Boulevard was built in 2006 and has been expanded three times before: in 2008, 2016, and 2018.

Co-Managing Director Bill Hines, Jr. explained that the company launched a product for the luxury vinyl tile industry in 2017 that has become an important driver for this expansion.

The growth rates for LVT are now six times that of laminate flooring.  Hines Jr. reported that the company experienced "major growth" with a major producer on the product over the last few years, fulfilling the cost of a $12.5 million dollar film machine that was installed a couple of years ago.

In 2021, Interprint printed 16 million square meters of LVT on a market of 593 million square meters, only supplying about 2.7 percent of the U.S. market.

"And there's a lot of construction happening down in Georgia which is kind of the flooring capital of the country for people building new manufacturing plants to create more luxury vinyl tile business," Hines Jr. explained.

"So we want to capture just a small portion of this market which we plan to do with this machinery. We have designed another film machine. This we will replicate three times."

There were discussions about making this investment at a Georgia location, but he clarified that Interprint was always planned to stay in Pittsfield.

The approval was unanimous but Ward 2 Councilor Charles Kronick questioned the "true cost" of the agreement and expressed that he wants to see more comprehensive presentations on TIFs in the future.

President Peter Marchetti said that the cost of the TIF is that the company could make the investment in Georgia and there would be no revenue for the city.

"I think this is a great opportunity for the city of Pittsfield and Interprint.  I fully support this. We talked about some of the taxes, as Councilor Kronick was.  You're paying about $230,000 currently in taxes.  Over this 10-year TIF, you’ll end up paying $2.7 million to the city of Pittsfield in taxes.  I think that's a bonus for the taxpayer who pays their taxes every year just like Interprint does," Councilor At Large Earl Persip III said.

"I think creating 20 jobs on top of the 170 you have currently is what we're looking for. We don't see too many manufacturers in the Northeast.  Georgia is probably very happy to have you. It's probably cheaper utilities down there, you don't have to pay for heat, just examples like that, I mean, this is an opportunity for Pittsfield."

Similarly to Marchetti, the way he sees TIFs is that it is not lost revenue because there is no revenue if the project doesn’t get done.

Kronick speculated that the city should think about how it can maintain manufacturing with a competitive disadvantage to the South.

The TIF will go back to the City Council next week for final approval.

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