Card company gets tax break for Brookhaven expansion

Source One Direct, a Brookhaven-based company that customizes credit cards, will receive about $1.1 million in tax incentives as it spends $30 million to expand its facilities.

The company, whose services include placing customer data on a chip or magnetic stripe, plans to hire about 130 employees including machine operators, quality control operators and vault and warehousing staff. They’ll earn average salaries of about $27,500.

The Decide DeKalb Development Authority unanimously approved the 10-year discount on the company's property taxes through a bond financing agreement Oct. 8.

“This will help them with the substantial cost that they’re occurring to establish the facility and to outfit this facility with equipment and renovations to make it fit their expansion,” said Ray Gilley, the authority’s president.

The expansion of Source One, which was founded in 1996, includes $23 million for equipment, $5 million for leasehold improvements and $2 million for other property, the company told the authority.

The company currently has about 365 employees, about half of whom work in DeKalb County, according to the authority.

After accounting for the tax break, Source One’s expansion is projected to generate $828,679 in property tax revenue over the next 10 years for DeKalb County, DeKalb schools and the city of Brookhaven, according to an analysis conducted for the authority.