Madison Paper mill shuttering in May
Illustration / Matt Selva
The 214 employees of the Madison Paper Industries mill in Madison will soon be without work, as the mill’s parent company, UPM-Kymmene Inc. and Northern SC Paper Corp., announced on Monday that the mill will be closing by May.
“Despite everyone’s best efforts, the difficult decision has been made to cease paper production at Madison,” Ruud van den Berg, senior vice president of UPM Paper Europe and North America said in a prepared statement announcing the closure. “Demand for supercalendered papers declined significantly in 2015 and the decline is expected to continue. The Madison mill is not cost-competitive and has lost a significant amount of sales in the recent past.”
The mill is a major economic force in the town as it’s both one of its largest employers and the largest property taxpayer.
A $150 million tax value drop at Madison Paper in 2014 forced the town of Madison to make several adjustments to its municipal budget, in addition to it seeking a $2.5 million line of credit to adjust to the drop in tax revenue, according to the Portland Press Herald.
The announced closure comes on the heels of several temporary production cutbacks for the mill, including a reduction from seven days a week in production to five days per week, and several periods of temporary layoffs in 2015.
The Press Herald reports that some employees of the mill will remain beyond the May closure date to maintain the facilities, including the operation of the hydro generating facilities until the paper business and its hydro power assets are sold.
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