A Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) agreement for a county industry could soon be extended for 10 more years following a recommendation by the Carter County Industrial Development Board.

Members of the Industrial Development Board met Tuesday morning and voted to approve a request by Borla Performance Industries and Borla Properties to extend the PILOT agreement between the company and Carter County.

Allen Stoner, the Chief Financial Officer of Borla Performance Industries and Borla Properties, sent a letter in October to Carter County Mayor Leon Humphrey and the Industrial Development Board asking for the county to renew the PILOT agreement. Borla Performance Industries is located in a portion of Johnson City which lies within Carter County along I-26. In his letter, Stoner said the company had made investments to support continued economic growth at their facility.

“Borla has invested capital to support skilled manufacturing, engineering, and research and development job growth at the facility,” Stoner said in his letter.

Since the start of the current PILOT phase, Stoner said Borla has added 130 skilled manufacturing and support employees to its ranks. Also, the facility has supported “significant job growth” by providing space for tenants which added around 300 new positions during the 5-year PILOT phase according to Stoner.

Additionally, Stoner said, Borla has invested approximately $3.8 million in capital equipment and major maintenance efforts.

The five-year PILOT agreement with Borla had been set to expire on December 31, 2017, but members of the Carter County Commission voted during their November meeting to extend the agreement until January 31, 2018, to allow time for the newly appointed Industrial Development Board to thoroughly review the request by Borla.

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, the group had met at Borla Performance Industries to tour the facility. After a lengthy discussion, according to Humphrey, the Board voted to grant the request and to extend the PILOT agreement with Borla for an additional 10 years.

“They did a very thorough job, they looked at all of the numbers, and they looked at all the benefits,” Humphrey said of the Board.

The PILOT agreement extension must now be presented to the full County Commission for final approval.

“We will have to take action at the January meeting because last time we extended the agreement to expire on January 31,” Humphrey said.