Powertech gets $203G in tax breaks as it expands, promises to add jobs

Annemarie and Steven Austin Sr. have built their small business methodically, going from sales of $60,000 in 1991 to a projected $20 million this year.

Now, the couple said, they are ready to purchase a building for Powertech Controls Co. Inc., after renting space for more than two decades at various locations in Suffolk County.

The company spent its first years in the basement of the couple's East Northport home.

If all goes according to plan, Powertech will move into 101 Christopher St. in Ronkonkoma next spring. The 20,000-square-foot facility is 42 percent larger than the leased office and warehouse used by the business in Hauppauge since 2006.

The $2.4 million project includes $1.8 million to buy the building and $300,000 worth of renovations.

Last month, the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency agreed to provide Powertech with $203,600 in tax breaks, including a $154,451, or 27.5 percent, reduction in property taxes over 10 years. In return Powertech has promised to add at least four jobs by 2018 to its local payroll of 37 people. Workers earn, on average, $58,108 per year, records show.

"We are bursting at the seams," said Annemarie Austin, Powertech's president and majority owner. The expansion "will allow us to grow our business." Referring to the hiring goal, she said, "We feel totally comfortable that we will exceed that number."

She said there was increased demand for the electronic control products that Powertech sells to railroads, packaging and printing companies, energy producers and manufacturers of semiconductors and aerospace equipment.

Powertech distributes about 100,000 different components from leading European and U.S. parts manufacturers, including General Electric, Weidmüller and Fuji Electric, said co-owner Steven Austin Sr.

He said Powertech has introduced European components manufacturers to the U.S. market. "We started with some high-quality, very effective product lines that weren't well known here . . . We've promoted them to our customers, and our sales have grown," he told the IDA last month.

Customers include Veeco Instruments Inc. in Plainview and Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton.

Four of the couple's nine children work in the business; three of them have done so for more than 15 years. Steve Austin Jr. runs operations; Jesse Austin is in outside sales; Rebecca Howard oversees finance and human resources, and Tricia Austin is quality control manager.

"We expect that Powertech will be their business when we get out of it," Annemarie Austin said.