TUPELO, Miss. - A Verona, Miss. business that makes lawn and garden tools will soon double in size.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, touring Northeast Mississippi this week, announced a $5.1 million addition and 35 new jobs at the MTD Products Inc. distribution center.
The 300,000-square-foot expansion will double the size of MTD, which produced 1.8 million lawnmowers and tillers last year. MTD, which stands for Modern Tool and Die, employs 800 people at peak times.
Ted Moll, executive vice president for operations at MTD, was at Monday's announcement and said, "I hope the bulldozers will be out there soon."
Bobby Smith, president of the Lee County Board of Supervisors, said the addition is a result of Lee County phasing out its inventory tax. The tax should disappear over 10 years at 10 percent a year.
The current MTD building was built in 1960. In 1986, the company bought the former Aircap facility in Tupelo. Construction on the new addition will begin in late July or early August and should take about six to eight months.