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Xerox Corp. is seeking tax breaks from Monroe County for a possible $35 million expansion to one of its Webster toner plants, a move that could add 25 jobs.
The County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency will hold a series of public hearings later this month about Xerox’s application for an estimated $441,000 worth of tax breaks for the proposed project.
In its COMIDA application, Xerox says it is looking at Building 216 at its Webster campus — as well as some locations overseas — as the site of a planned expansion to boost Xerox’s toner production capacity.
Xerox spokesman Bill McKee said the company is simply investigating whether COMIDA would consider tax breaks on the additions.
“However no decision has been made on the expansion of toner capacity in Webster,” he said. “As one of the world’s largest producers of toner, we have looked at several alternatives on how and where to expand our manufacturing capacity. We could build additional space in Webster or since we ship toner globally, we could manufacture it anywhere.”
The Webster expansion would involve two additions to 216 totaling 55,000 square feet, as well as roughly $30 million worth of additional equipment.
According to Xerox’s application, if the company chose to do the expansion in Webster, construction work likely would start in August and be complete by early 2015.
Xerox employs roughly 5,900 in Monroe County, including 40 at Building 216. The expansion would add about 25 process operations, quality control laboratory and maintenance positions there with annual average salaries of $45,000 a year, according to Xerox.
Building 216 is Xerox’s emulsion aggregation, or EA, toner plant. Traditional toner used in office photocopiers and digital printing presses is made by mixing ingredients into pellets that then are ground into a dust-like compound that gets melted onto sheets of paper. EA toner uses chemical processes to “grow” toner from its ingredients into tiny individual toner particles.
The plant went online in 2007, and saw a major expansion in 2011.
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