One day after it signed a performance agreement to keep Mohawk in Hillsville for the next 7.5 years, Carroll County completed its end of the deal.

Carroll County Administrator Gary Larrowe said the county wrote a check to Mohawk Industries for $280,000 on June 30. As part of the performance agreement signed between Carroll County, the Carroll County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and Mohawk, the IDA has paid $280,000 toward an $800,000 omniverter that will serve as an industrial power backup system.

Mohawk, which currently employs 154 full-time workers at its site on Floyd Pike, has in return promised to utilize and operate its Carroll County facility for 7.5 years with a staffing level of at least 105 full-time employees.

Since the check was written on June 30, the last day of Fiscal Year 2008-2009, the $280,000 will not affect Carroll County’s budget process for Fiscal Year 2009-2010, which the county approved earlier in June.

Larrowe said the funds came from a pair of sources.

The largest chunk, $198,000, came from a federal reimbursement of a grant originally awarded to the county in 2005.

The remaining $82,000 came from the Carroll County IDA from funds that were already budgeted into the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 budget.

“We were able to get reimbursement from a grant that we had already expended and that was from a 2005 Housing and Urban Development Grant from Congressman Rick Boucher for $198,000,” Larrowe said.

“We had taken the task on of clearing up all those records and asking for reimbursement from the feds and it has taken since 2005 to get those. We got the reimbursement check of $198,000 earlier in the year while we were talking about this with Mohawk and that was the source of the funding. Then the business development line item was put together between the IDA and supervisors (for the remaining $82,000). It was budgeted money, but it was for the purpose of what it was used for — business retention and development.”

Mohawk will use the $280,000 toward an $800,000 omniverter, an industrial power backup system, that will cost more than $1 million when the price of installation and upgrades and added.

County officials said during the June announcement that the Hillsville facility has suffered from power sags or outages for about 10 years.

Carroll County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Hutchins said anytime the power blinked, even for a second, in Hillsville, it cost the company more than $100,000 in waste and lost production, putting the plant out of operation for as much as eight hours.

Recently, 18 outages over the course of a year cost the company more than $1 million, Hutchins said.

Working with Mohawk to find a solution was vital to Carroll County, Larrowe said, and Mohawk is expected to have the omniverter up and running by the end of the year. Carroll’s assistance was more about assisting a great corporate partner as opposed to bailing one out, Larrowe said.

“We felt as if we had no option but to make this happen. Carroll County can not afford to lose Mohawk. This also puts us in line for future expansion,” Larrowe said. “Being able to secure it for the future is vitally important to our community as a whole. This was an existing problem prior to the economic stress that has been placed on the county.

“This has been going on for more than 10 years, and with the additional economic stress it became more likely something bad could happen. This has reversed that trend and we have a wonderful company that has been a staple in our community and will continue to do so.

“This was not an incentive for Mohawk to stay, it was to solve a problem that has been going on for 10 years irregardless of what the economy is doing. Mohawk is burdening 65 percent of the cost plus investment and they were asking for assistance.”

Aside from keeping the company in Hillsville for the next 7.5 years with at least 105 full-time employees, the performance agreement will benefit the county in other ways in the form of additional tax resources.

With machinery and tax tools set at $1.30 per $100 of assessed value in Carroll County, Carroll is set to collect $10,400 annually on the $800,000 omniverter.

The $200,000 improvements will add at least an additional $1,190 in tax dollars on real estate taxes, which are currently set at 59.5 cents of $100 of assessed value in Carroll County.

After the June 29 announcement, state and local officials alike praised the performance agreement.

“We’re certainly glad to hear that they plan to be here. They are and have been a great corporate citizen,” Hillsville Town Manager Larry South said of Mohawk. “The Town was involved in discussion over the electric issue for two or three years.

“The fact that Carroll County was able to help them financially is good news. The agreement sounds very positive and we are glad Mohawk is here and will remain here.”

State Senator Roscoe Reynolds is no stranger to the power problems at Mohawk as he worked with the State Corporation Commission to assess the situation.

“I am very pleased with the outcome,” Reynolds said. “We needed to do everything possible and I am pleased with what Carroll County has done.”

Local delegate Bill Carrico praised Carroll County for making the agreement happen.

“In these struggling economic times, it is encouraging to see how Carroll County could be creative in the efforts to retain Mohawk Industries. The efforts to assist Mohawk with the power issues will allow them to stay in Carroll County and continuing to provide jobs,” Carrico said.

“This is a small investment in the future of our region. We could not afford to let them go! Mohawk Industries is an icon in our community that provides good jobs to more than 150 local citizens as well as providing tax.”

Local Delegate Ward Armstrong said the performance agreement will benefit all parties involved.

“I applaud the Carroll County Administrator, Board of Supervisors and the IDA for their hard work to successfully keep Mohawk Industries located in Carroll County,” Armstrong said.

“Saving these jobs not only benefits the families of Mohawk employees but our entire community. In these tough economic times, retaining Mohawk Industries is a positive economic stimulus for Carroll County.”