Paper production company Verso is laying off 300 workers at its Wickliffe paper mill through Sunday. Verso’s Elizabeth Keyes said 20 hourly workers will stay on as caretakers during the indefinite idle.
Ballard County Judge Executive Vickie Viniard said the county will lose $500,000 in payroll taxes from the mill’s idling.
“I’m gonna call for a workshop with out magistrates and we are gonna go over each line item in our budget and we will be seeing what kind of downsizing we are gonna do. Or that we can do,” Viniard said.
The idling will have a larger impact outside of Ballard. Kentucky Master Logger program director Jeff Stringer says the mill’s idling means a $600 million hit to the commonwealth’s economy. Verso cites a decline in demand for coated-paper, an increase in foreign imports, and high operating costs in Maine for the decision to idle the Wickliffe Mill.
