GEORGETOWN, Ky. — On Tuesday, Feb. 6, Toyota announced it was investing $1.3 billion into its Georgetown plant for battery electric vehicle (BEV) production.

Toyota is already the largest employer in Scott County. 

“Oh, it’s a big deal because for the fact that it just don’t touch us here in Scott County. Toyota affects statewide," Georgetown Mayor Berney Jenkins told Spectrum News.

Jenkins was a teacher for forty years in the county before being elected to mayor just more than a year ago. He said Toyota continues to be a driving force behind a Georgetown boom. 

“What drives our revenue is high-paying jobs, good high paying quality jobs and the good thing about this is they are not going anywhere,” Jenkins added.

Last year Toyota announced a $500 million investment in the plant, but now it’s more than a billion. Scott County Judge Executive Joe Pat Covington said the more Toyota invests, the more the city and county can spend on city services like police, fire and other services.

“It’s been a very successful relationship for our community,” Covington told Spectrum News 1. “For the county, we stack occupational licensing.”

The occupational license tax that all employers pay sends major dollars to fund city, county and school district operations.

“And those net profit proceeds from Toyota and their suppliers and any other business in Georgetown, Scott County, helps provide the services that we have to our community,” Covington said.

Toyota’s Georgetown production plant employs nearly 10,000 people and Georgetown’s population is approximately 30,000. It’s Toyota’s largest vehicle manufacturing plant in the world.

“Their investment of $1.3 billion tells everybody, tells us and tells everybody in this state we are going to be here,” Mayor Jenkins said.