GOOD HOPE — Good Hope’s economy will soon get a boost after the City Council passed a resolution to provide a tax incentive for a local manufacturer to relocate to the city. 

AGCOR Steel — a manufacturer and retailer of metal siding and metal trusses currently located in Vinemont — will be moving to Good Hope, and is projected to bring around 20 new jobs and generate $8-10 million in annual sales.

AGCOR will be spending $400,000 on the new 53-acre piece of property on Industrial Drive inside the Good Hope city limits, and Good Hope, Cullman and Cullman County will each be providing $133,334 in tax incentives to help the company pay for the site.

Good Hope will be paying the incentive out of its half-cent sales tax increase that took effect in January. After the city passed its resolution Monday night, the Cullman City Council and Cullman County Commission will have to pass resolutions of their own to complete the arrangement. 

Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett said this is the first time that the three entities have worked together on a project like this.

“You can’t stress enough the big deal it is for all three to work together,” he said. “This has never happened before.” 

Good Hope will also be applying for a Community Development Block Grant to help cover the costs of building a new sewer pump station for the site that is projected to cost around $250,000, Bartlett said. 

Bartlett credited the hard work of the City Council, State Rep. Corey Harbison and Cullman Economic Development Agency Director Dale Greer, who all came together to bring AGCOR to the city. 

“We’ve been working on this for months,” he said. 

The recruitment of AGCOR was a first for cooperation between Good Hope, Cullman and Cullman County, but also marks another first for Good Hope’s economy, Bartlett said. 

“This is the first manufacturing plant ever for the City of Good Hope,” he said. “That’s a big deal.” 

With a deal to secure its first ever manufacturing facility and more developers looking at the land around the city’s two interstate exits, Good Hope’s future is looking bright, Bartlett said. 

“I think this is going to be a good year,” he said. “This is a good start to it.”

At a June 2017 meeting, the county commission decided to not vacate a portion of CR-1615 in Berlin for a planned AGCOR expansion.

Some Berlin residents opposed the manufacturer’s request for the county to vacate a part of the road from where it meets CR-1614 to behind the Berlin Community Center.

The change would have affected a county school bus route and a new water main line.