MONTAGUE — The Montague Township board approved a 12-year 50% property tax abatement for a MasterTag expansion at a public hearing Tuesday night by a 4-0 margin. Treasurer Tracy Korthase recused herself from the discussion and vote because her family’s company, Korthase & Sons, will be among the companies working with MasterTag on the expansion.
The abatement is considered a standard practice locally to incentivize business expansion. The board said even with the abatement, the new facility should create in excess of $7,500 of tax revenue per year for the township over the life of the abatement.
MasterTag facilities manager Chris Beck spoke at the hearing and said the company’s total investment for the expansion should come out to around $26 million. The company, which was acquired by Avery Products in 2022 but continues to operate in Montague, sought the expanded facility, slated to be constructed over the next two years adjacent to the current building on Old US-31, because its current production space on nearby Walsh Road is insufficient for its future plans.
“If you’ve ever had an opportunity to walk through our production facility now, we are just bulging at what we have now and what we want to do,” Beck said. “We’re looking at maybe doing digital equipment. It will allow us to print things faster than what we have now. More converting machines. Just more technology. We don’t have the space to even hold all of our raw material. We’re expecting our business to grow, and where we’re at right now, we can’t.”
Beck noted that the expansion had to happen adjacent to the Old 31 building because the Walsh Road facility does not have room on either side to expand. The Montague VFW and the White Lake Animal Clinic surround the existing production facility.
During board discussion, township clerk Drew Roesler asked Beck what the planned future will be for the Walsh Road facility once the company has transitioned production to the new building. Beck replied MasterTag may maintain it for research and development and that he expects the building to remain company property for 2-5 years, but he expects after that it would eventually be sold.
The expansion is planned, said WinBerg Construction’s Brad VanBergen, to retain the current 149 jobs at MasterTag and create 10 more. To allow current production to continue during the transition to the new facility, the transition will happen slowly.
The board noted it had received over a dozen letters regarding the abatement and none spoke negatively about MasterTag. The lone public comment on the issue came from retired Montague firefighter Bob Suits, who said the expansion “will be tremendous” for the township and approved of the abatement.
Beck said the relationship between MasterTag and the township has been positive for each and credited MasterTag president Rick Hughes, his wife Holly, and past leadership at MasterTag for cultivating it over the years.
“The Hughes’ have just been great for this area,” Beck said. “I don’t think you could walk anywhere in this township or this city and have anybody say anything negative about them.”
Beck added that with the abatement approved, he anticipates a groundbreaking for the new facility will take place in July.
