WASHINGTON TWP., FRANKLIN CO. , Pa -- New jobs for some and a shorter commute to work are in store for others in Franklin County.
Washington Township business leaders recently sealed the deal on bringing a 16 million dollar company to the area.
It takes dough to make bread and a Maryland bakery could have a recipe for success for Washington Township.
Washington Township manager Mike Christopher said "we have an industrial park that we've been marketing for about 15 years, it has some rock issues and these issues go away with this particular development."
Right now, the site of that development is just an empty field, but that will change once Hadley Farms moves its Maryland bakery across the state line from Smithsburg to an industrial park in Washington Township.
Coldwell Banker associate broker Paul Gunder said "this park is all about creating jobs, that's what the Waynesboro Industrial Development Corporation has been about since we started this project. The whole idea is to create some employment in the area."
"Each one of those jobs, those folks may or may not live in the school district, but the taxes that they generate will be for the school district," Christopher said.
Washington Township sweetened the deal to make the bakery an offer it couldn't refuse.
"In the first year, the improvement itself, zero taxes are paid, property taxes, the next year 10 percent, 20 percent and on up for a ten year program," Christopher said.
The tax break for Hadley Farms is a tax gain for Washington Township.
"If there's no additional monies available, there are no good things. Parks particularly suffer, recreational programs, police services they all suffer, roads suffer if there's not additional cash coming in," Christopher said.
Competition for jobs and new business in the area is strong.
"We compete against Maryland and West Virginia. Being that we're right on the state line, we have to bring out the big guns if we want to land a company as influential as this company is," Christopher said.
"We've seen a migration out of Maryland over here to Pennsylvania, so it's great to see this happening and i think they're seeing the great job opportunities and work ethic here in Franklin County," Gunder said.
While Washington Township was able to give Hadley Farms a tax incentive to come to the area, Christopher said in turn, the company will bring about 150 jobs, along with a demand for other goods and services.
In addition to Washington Township administrators and Coldwell Banker, several area organizations worked together to make the deal possible, including the Waynesboro Industrial Development Corporation, the Waynesboro Area School District, and the Franklin County Area Development Corporation.