JCC Considers Plan to Train BioDri Workers

There's news on the BioDri front.

Jackson Community College is considering a proposal to partner with BioDri to provide training for about 340 employees who are expected to be hired in the next five years.

The college’s board of trustees is considering a Michigan New Jobs Training Program Project that would be worth about $3.5 million over the next eight years.

The board will consider the recommendation at Monday’s meeting. According to the board’s agenda packet, BioDri intends to hire 58 workers by Oct. 1, 2011. Another 44 hires are expected by Oct. 1, 2012. The schedule shows another 116 jobs by 2013, with the remainder of the jobs coming in 2014-15.

Training could begin as soon as Nov. 1, 2010 and conclude by Sept. 30, 2018. Training would include orientation, several MIOSHA classes, chemistry, environmental biology, waste water treatment, training materials development, sales, internet marketing, software training, computer skills, project management, supervisory skills, and more.

As part of the agreement, the wages paid by the employer must be at least 175 percent of the state’s minimum wage (at least $12.95 hourly).

Jackson Community College will issue debt on behalf of employers. Employers then repay the debt by a diversion of withholding taxes generated by the wages earned by the new employees. Funds available through the MNJTP are dependent upon training needs and projected withholding tax revenue available to repay the debt. BioDri will benefit because it will pay the cost of training for new employees with dollars that would otherwise have been paid to the state for withholding taxes.

The MNJTP allows employers to take a credit and send those dollars to JCC to retire the debt funding the training program. If an employer hires the number of new employees and pays the wages it certified to the college, the program costs the employer nothing. However, should the employer not hire the number they certify, or leave Michigan before the debt is retired through normal withholding diversion, the employer would still be liable for meeting the terms of the contract (participating employers do assume the risk of repayment through a diversion of withholding taxes).