NATCHEZ — Adams County Supervisors unanimously approved a fee-in-lieu tax incentive agreement with paper company von Drehle that will net the county just under $400,000 in taxes annually.

“This is a good day for Adams County,” Natchez Inc. Director Chandler Russ said. “Von Drehle has been a great partner to work with, and I don’t think this is it for them.”

For the agreement — which allows the company to only pay one-third of its taxes — von Drehle had to invest $100 million into their project and will be required to maintain an employment level of 75 people during the 10-year term. 10 years is the maximum the state allows for a tax exemption.

Russ said he projects the company’s investment to total approximately $130 million. Von Drehle has 150 employees in Natchez and a $6.7 million annual payroll, Russ said.

“Von Drehle has met or exceeded everything they said they would do from the get-go,” he said. “Hopefully we will continue to have good news with von Drehle in the coming years.”

Russ said the county would receive approximately $397,000 in taxes if the investment totals $130 million.

In addition, the public schools will receive approximately $366,000. The Natchez-Adams School District will receive the majority of the funding, but Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Natchez will also receive a piece of the pie.

Russ said von Drehle has exceeded the $100 million threshold, but recently the company has been moving in machinery and equipment, and the Adams County Tax Assessor’s Office has not finalized the company’s property breakdown.

Board of Supervisors President Mike Lazarus said the von Drehle property as part of the 2017 tax roll would be one of many that will help the county. Lazarus said a $7 million residence would also be on the roll, along with more than 25 new residences at Beau Pre County Club.

“A lot of good things will be happening in 2017,” he said. “It will probably be one of our bigger years.”

Mississippi Development Authority also has to sign off on the tax exemption agreement, Russ said, but the authority has already reviewed and approved the draft Board Attorney Scott Slover submitted.

Natchez Inc. began recruiting von Drehle about eight months before the company announced a Natchez project in 2013, when the company purchased the then shuttered Mississippi River Pulp plant.

The company announced an expansion of the Majorca Road facility for a paper manufacturing operation in 2014. Groundbreaking occurred in 2015, and the business became operational in June 2016.