Grand Island war chest close to paying off

What can you build in a factory 34 feet high, using 300 people including welders, machinists, engineer, administrators and painters?

Don't know? Neither do we.

Whatever it is, a foreign company will manufacture it in a 320,000-square-foot building, haul in parts on 15 rail cars and ship out finished products on seven rail cars, as well as using trucks.

The Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. is in competition with a Kansas site for just such a factory, and is offering $600,000 in incentives.

In return, the company will invest $70 million in the plant by 2010, hire 300 people by 2012 and maintain the jobs at least through 2014, according to the proposed agreement. If not, the $600,000 must be repaid at 8 percent interest.

The money will come from local sales tax revenue, not any state incentives, and the Grand Island City Council will consider those incentives, as well as up to $5.5 million in tax-increment financing next Tuesday.

Grand Island has a lot on its plate right now, scrambling to find funding to become home for the state fair and recently passing a restaurant tax.

But it's a good illustration of how a relatively small amount of money -- $600,000, can be leveraged into millions of dollars of economic activity.

That's about twice the amount McCook has tied up in a helicopter kit company that is showing few signs of repaying the loan, let alone providing the jobs promised.

Neither has McCook had stellar experience with all of its tax increment financing efforts in the past, although Valmont was a shining success.

It's important for communities like McCook to have a war chest of incentives ready to go the next time an economic opportunity presents itself.

Even more important, however, is the effort to ensure that those resources aren't squandered.