ED/GE committee recommends $350K to help keep GM/DMAX in Montgomery County

May 4—A committee advising Montgomery County commissioners on economic incentives funding voted Thursday to recommend that the county pay General Motors $350,000 to keep DMAX engine production jobs in the Dayton area.

The Economic Development/Government Equity (ED/GE) Advisory committee hopes the money will convince GM to move some 712 DMAX jobs to Brookville rather than Flint, Mich. — even though Moraine evidently stands to lose those jobs in any case.

GM spokespeople have said company leaders have not made a decision on the disposition of those jobs. A representative of GM declined to comment Thursday.

Brookville Law Director Rod Stephan said a letter from Moraine city officials acknowledging GM's plans "indicated there is not going to be revenue-sharing" between the two communities.

GM originally requested $500,000 in ED/GE dollars.

"They're considering other locations outside Ohio," Stephan said. "I think whatever funding we can receive from the committee will be important."

The ED/GE committee met Thursday to consider 11 requests for development-incentive dollars from municipalities seeking either to draw companies to their communities — or to keep them there.

With GM/Isuzu joint venture engine producer DMAX weighing an expansion in Brookville, the automaker appears poised to pull hundreds of jobs from Moraine, the city that has been home to Duramax engine production since the late 1990s.

While a GM spokesman said the company has not made a final decision about whether to go forward with its Brookville expansion, construction ground work has started in that area.

Moraine has sent a letter to Montgomery County officials, acknowledging "that the existing (Moraine) location does not provide adequate space for an expansion of this magnitude."

DMAX has built heavy-duty diesel truck engines in Moraine since 1999. Twenty years later, GM announced a $175 million investment to build a new, diesel engine components plant in Brookville.

The idea at the time was to run the new Brookville DMAX plant concurrently with the original DMAX plant in Moraine, sending established plant-machined engine components for assembly in Moraine. From Ohio, finished engines go to Flint, Mich. for truck assembly.

But in late 2021, GM bought more than 50 acres in Brookville, raising questions about the automaker's plans there.

Other ED/GE proposals and recommendations:

In Miami Twp., busy Dayton-area developer NorthPoint Development has applied for $500,000 for a 264,000 square-foot First Flight Commerce Center Business Park, which would include extending Washington Church Road to Austin Boulevard.

Some committee members balked at the "speculative" nature of that project, with no end-users yet identified. They recommended not paying anything for the project until users are identified.

In Miamisburg, robotics manufacturer Yaskawa America applied for $350,000 to build a 190,000 square-foot addition to an existing 300,000 square-foot facility. The committee recommended that same amount.

Seventy new jobs are possible there, with 333 current jobs retained, according to the applicants for the money.

In Dayton, Bonbright Distributors sought $500,000 to offset building improvement costs for a 50,600 square-foot expansion of an existing facility in Dayton. The project would retain 120 jobs and create 32 new jobs. The ED/GE recommendation for Bonbright was $350,000.

Also in Dayton, the code-named "Project Wonka" seeks $75,000 for an unnamed aerospace and defense contractor headquartered in Illinois but already with a presence in this region. The money would go toward $1 million in leasehold improvements required to conduct research and equipment testing for the defense industry.

"Wonka" would create 20 new jobs, according to the city of Dayton. The committee recommended $60,000.

In Englewood, Eaton Compressor applied for $500,000 to help build a 65,000 square-foot warehouse adjacent to a current facility, to allow for additional manufacturing space. The recommendation was $275,000.

That proposed project would retain 60 jobs and create 15 new jobs.

In Germantown, the Dupps Co. sought $500,000 to build a 48,000 square-foot building adjacent to a current facility, to produce and service parts used in the company's renewable fuels industry.

The proposed Dupps project would retain 179 jobs and create 12 new jobs. The recommended amount from the committee: $350,000.

In Huber Heights, "PVS Plastics" applied for $370,000 to offset construction costs for a 14,450 square-foot addition adjacent to an existing facility. The committee recommended $275,000.

That expansion would retain 48 jobs and create 26 new jobs.