By JIMMY LAWTON

MASSENA -- St, Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency is purchasing approximately $90,000 worth of precision welding equipment and transferring it to a local manufacturing business.

Fockler Industries, which leases a building in the Massena Industrial Park owned by the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency, will receive the equipment at the end of a four-year agreement.

SLCIDA Director Patrick J. Kelly said the economic development agency will purchase the industrial precision welder at a price not to exceed $92,790.

Fockler will pay 10 percent of the total purchase as a down payment and cover any transportation costs associated with moving the welder.

Additional payments will be made over a four-year period based on the actual cost, with an interest rate of half of prime plus one, or about 2.63 percent.

Kelly said Fockler expects to add at least two additional jobs in the next four years.

Kelly said the IDA's purchase is an example of two economic development agencies working together to help grow business.

He said the River Agency was able to supply the building and IDA was able to provide the funding for the equipment purchase.

"A significant part of economic development is working with existing firms to try find ways to bring resources to them and enable them to grow and to stay modern so that they can grow incrementally," he said. "This is just another instance of combining resources."

Fockler Industries is located in Lot 19 of the Massena Industrial Park.