FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A Fort Wayne company that announced big expansion plans recently is hoping the City Council will lighten their tax load. 

Sweetwater will ask the Council Tuesday night for $1-million in tax abatements over the next ten years to help with construction of a planned 16,000 square foot, $8.8-million expansion to their Highway 30 campus set to be completed by 2018. They plan on adding 285 jobs, and the News-Sentinel reports that those jobs will pay on average just over $43,000 a year. 

Hiring for temporary construction jobs is ongoing. Company officials say the expansion is needed to keep up with growth; last year they brought in more than $353-million in sales, about $76-million more than the year before.