MIDDLEBORO — Middleboro officials proposed a tax incentive for a Braintree-based company that is considering expanding to Middleboro with a $29 million building investment.

During the Select Board meeting on Monday, July 21, Indus, a roadway rehabilitation company, presented their plans to purchase property and expand into Middleboro. The company plans to construct a 75,000 square foot building for their corporate headquarters and operations at the industrial park near Trucchi’s Supermarket on Canopy Drive.

To encourage the development, town officials proposed a tax increment financing plan to draw the investment to Middleboro.

“Part of the job that we're doing is to attract [Indus] to decide to come to Middleboro, we're offering them tax incentive financing on the future value of the increased taxes,” said Town Manager James McGrail.

Tax increment financing is a tax incentive offered by municipalities to draw in, and help fund, economic development. In this case, Middleboro proposed property tax discount for Indus which would last 10 years, at the end of the 10-year period the taxes return to the full amount. The period of saving assists with the development’s financing and establishment.

Indus plans to create 20 new permanent jobs to add to the 65 full-time jobs and 160 seasonal jobs they provide in their pavement preservation business. Types of jobs include mechanics, warehouse personnel and drivers with Commercial Drivers Licenses. The company intends to give priority to qualified Middleboro residents for new jobs.

“I had the opportunity to step aside with a handful of employees, and every one of them gushed. Whether it was an employee who had just started or they had been there 15 or 20 years, the message was the same — it's a great company,” said Select Board member Thomas White of a company tour he took in Braintree.

McGrail said the town is pursuing incentives since Indus could choose multiple locations across the state for their corporate headquarters. The land in Middleboro is privately owned — so the town might not have a chance to decide what is built on the lot in the future.

“It allows us to market the property a little bit, for an end use that we want,” McGrail said.

“We're trying to attract manufacturing, commercial companies, and other towns spend millions of dollars to try to do what organically happens here. Companies want to come to Middleboro,” he added

Select Board member Teresa Farley said she appreciated the family-owned aspect of Indus, and said the investment will bring positive tax revenue to the town.

“It’s looking to bring a tax revenue base here that creates more balance, and doesn’t add to the tax burden for our homeowners. So I appreciate that,” Farley said.

Farley did not note concerns for traffic, since the company has 120 registered vehicles that will be working out of Middleboro. Indus President Richard Goodick said their trucks would leave the site no more than twice a day, and McGrail said the planning board considered the impacts to traffic and did not find an issue.

Now that the tax increment financing plan for Indus has been presented to the public, officials said they will continue to work on the plan leading up to voting during the Special Fall Town Meeting.

“We really did hit a home run with finding Indus, they're a great fit for our town. I think when we get into the dollars and cents of the deal, it's a really good deal for the town as well,” said McGrail.