Total Label USA was granted a tax break Monday spread over 10 years, though the decision by the Flathead County commissioners wasn’t unanimous.

The label manufacturer was granted a tax incentive averaging about $1,100 annually for 10 years on $369,628 worth of new equipment and plant improvements.

Commissioner Gary Krueger first made a motion to deny the tax incentive, but the motion died for lack of a second. A subsequent motion by Commissioner Cal Scott to approve the incentive for the rural Whitefish label manufacturer passed on a 2-1 vote, with Krueger voting no.

Total Label, which reported $10.6 million in gross sales for 2012, applied for the tax benefits outlined in a county resolution for new or expanding industries.

The incentive, aimed at encouraging business investment, taxes the added value at 50 percent for the first five years. In the sixth year, Total Label will pay 60 percent of its tax liability, then continue the phased plan until it pays 100 percent in the 10th year.

Krueger disapproved of granting the incentive, saying “by approving one tax incentive request, I believe I’m raising taxes on other people.

“Any time we have a tax request, a reduction request, it doesn’t mean our government spends less money,” Kreuger continued. “It means the other people in the community pick up the slack and pay it. I’m a person that believes in low taxes for everybody.”

Scott said the county resolution that allows tax benefits for expanding manufacturing businesses helps increase the number of jobs and the county’s overall economy. Enhancing companies’ productivity helps the local tax base and actually lessens the tax burden on individuals, he added.

During the public hearing, Terry Hensleigh of Columbia Falls was the only person to provide comments. He favored the tax incentive.

“I believe this company is committed to increasing the health and prosperity for both itself and its employees,” Hensleigh said, noting that Total Label is making the investment in state-of-the-art equipment to meet its growing needs.

“I think Total Label has shown that expansion is more than just talk, having opened two fully functional manufacturing plants over the past 10 years,” he said. “By granting this incentive you will be passing along a powerful message to other business owners that job creation is highly desirable and they will be supported in their efforts.”

The county has granted Total Label several tax breaks during the decade the company has operated west of Whitefish. Don Farris started the company in Tennessee as Resource Label Group and expanded to rural Whitefish in 2004.

The business was renamed Total Label USA when Farris’ family sold most of their interest in Resource Label Group.

In 2008 Total Label invested $10 million in a new 60,000-square-foot plant, a facility that was quadruple the size of the original plant built for $4.5 million.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.