DHL’s USD53m tax-credit package gets final ok
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority gave its final approval Monday to the tax-incentive package that lured DHL to move its air cargo sorting operations from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to Wilmington, Ohio. The tax deal was initially announced in June.
The Ohio tax board awarded DHL and ABX Air Inc., which operates DHL’s hub in Wilmington, more than USD53 million in tax credits to expand and retain its operations there and to stay at the Clinton County site for 30 years.
The Ohio Department of Development said DHL is expected to create 600 new jobs in Wilmington within three years. The company will receive a 90 percent job-creation tax credit for five years and an additional 70 percent credit for 10 years after that. It also gets a 75 percent tax credit for 10 years for retaining 2,886 existing jobs there.
Ohio competed with Kentucky to lure DHL, which is consolidating its air cargo operations in Boone County and Wilmington into a single hub. It said it will use the Boone County airport facility as a backup. Its 1,200 Northern Kentucky jobs are expected to shrink to about 350 by next fall.
