Perfume bottle manufacturer to open etching facility in Hancock County

SPARTA - A new industry is coming to Hancock County, bringing about 300 new jobs to an area sorely in need of an economic boost, Gov. Roy Barnes announced Friday at the county courthouse. <br> <br> Hancock County Commission Chairwoman Betty Hill said Saint Gobain Desjonqueres, which manufactures perfume bottles, will open a plant in the county&#39;s industrial park in June and hire about 50 people to put etchings on the bottles. <br> <br> The company expects eventually to put about 300 employees on the payroll in Sparta, about 90 miles east of Atlanta, Hill said. The bottles will continue to be manufactured at plants elsewhere. <br> <br> In the past decade, nearly all manufacturing operations have left Hancock County, and its unemployment rate has soared to twice the state average. <br> <br> Two apparel industry plants the Sparta Garment Factory and the Payback plant shut down in the mid-1990s. In 2001, Sparta Manufacturing Co., a Florida-based furniture manufacturer, closed its operations in Hancock County. <br> <br> Hill said the county offered Saint Gobain Desjonqueres a five-year tax break to bring it to Sparta. The percentage of taxes paid by the company will increase gradually over the next five years, until it&#39;s paying 100 percent of its local taxes. <br> <br> Last year, Barnes announced the opening of the Alliances for Better Education, a small business that was expected to bring about 25 jobs to the county. But other efforts to bring jobs to Hancock County have stalled or failed, including efforts to establish an Indian reservation that would bring a casino to town.