The St. Landry Parish Council approved a property tax exemption for planned expansion of Savoie’s Sausage and Food Products Inc.’s food production facility near Port Barre.
The Council would be giving up $4,500 a year in tax revenue for 10 years.
Bill Rodier, St. Landry Parish Economic Development executive director, spoke in support of the exemptions at a special meeting Council meeting Wednesday in Opelousas.
The $12.7 million expansion was announced in December.
The company plans construction of a 41,000-square-foot facility and installation of new production equipment. The larger facility will enable Savoie’s to nearly double its production.
The company will be requesting tax exemptions from several entities, but must get approval from the parish government, sheriff and School Board.
The exemptions will total $375,000.
The School Board exemption is the largest at about $25,000 a year, Rodier said.
The payoff will be a project the will retain about 100 employees and create eight new jobs, Rodier said.
There also will be an estimated 172 construction jobs.
Rodier said the project will have a $44.5 million economic impact on the parish.
The exemptions on the improvements amount to 80% of the property tax bill.
Rodier said that while the Parish Council will be forgoing about $4,500 a year in taxes, it will collect about $1,300 additional in taxes annually.
“I think this is good project. I think this is good opportunity to show our local businesses they really matter to us,” Rodier said.
Rodier said the project began when he told Freddie Lafleur, Savoie’s CEO, that he was born and raised in Montana.
“You know what seems odd to me Freddie? I said we never had gumbo at ski resorts. Why do you think we never had gumbo at ski resorts? That’s kind of odd. It seems like good cold weather food,” Rodier said.
That was about three years ago and the company began looking at new markets.
“They actually realized the markets they need to go into they didn’t have the capacity internally to go into those markets,” he said.
Savoie’s has participated in Louisiana’s Economic Gardening Initiative, facilitated by LED’s Small Business Services team. The program provides participating companies with market research, a review of core strategies and an analysis of threats and opportunities. Savoie’s exposure to those market research strategies served as a catalyst for the new expansion.
Louisiana Economic Development began working on the expansion with Savoie’s in July 2018. To secure the facility expansion in St. Landry Parish, the State of Louisiana offered the company a competitive incentive package that includes a performance-based, forgivable loan of $100,000 from the state’s Economic Development Award Program. Additionally, Savoie’s is expected to participate in the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.
Established in 1955, Savoie’s Companies is a privately held, Louisiana-based corporation involved in the development, manufacturing, packing, marketing and distribution of a wide range of authentic Cajun food products originating from the heritage recipes of founder Eula Savoie.