$1 million offered by Utah for jobs

The state of Utah is offering Merit Medical Systems Inc. a $1 million incentive to create 600 high-paying jobs at its South Jordan headquarters.

On Friday, the Board of Business and Economic Development unanimously approved the deal, funded by the state's Industrial Assistance Fund.

Merit Medical employs 1,300 people worldwide, including sites in California, Texas and Ireland. Roughly 900 of its employees are based in Utah.

A driving part of the incentive is to lure jobs to Utah that are currently located at the company's Sensor Division, based in Santa Clara, Calif., which manufactures wafers for digital inflation devices used in cardiology and radiology procedures.

The incentive offers $3,300 for each new full-time position added in Utah from the company's Sensor Division. That same amount also will paid out for new jobs created that are associated with the introduction of the manufacturing of new product lines at its South Jordan facility.

In addition, $1,600 is being offered for new full-time employee positions created in Utah exclusive of the relocation of Sensor Division jobs or from expansion of existing product lines.

"That whole incentive is to bring new jobs into Utah," said board member Dell Loy Hansen. "These are not low-end jobs; these are high-end jobs. We want to make more money, not less money, for our people."

Merit Medical already had plans for new jobs in Utah without the incentive. In December, Merit Medical broke ground on an expansion project totaling about 180,000 square feet. At that time, Fred Lampropoulos, Merit's chairman and chief executive officer, said the new facility would add 300 to 500 jobs.

Still, if the full $1 million incentive is granted to Merit Medical, the economic return to the state in payroll, income, corporate and sales taxes could amount to about $7.4 million, according to Mark Renda, director of the state's incentives programs.

And the incentive will make Utah more competitive with other locations.

"What this state needs is more Fred Lampropouloses to drive these tremendous successes," said board member Richard Nelson. "Merit is an ideal company to grow in the state."

Lampropoulos said the incentive would go a long way in helping the business stay in Utah and expand.

"In Ireland, we have a 10 percent tax rate vs. essentially a 37 percent tax rate here in the United States and in Utah," Lampropoulos said. "We just started rethinking where our businesses were going to be and where we could make more money. ... I think they've leveled the playing field here for Utah companies. I think this is a huge victory for all Utah companies, not just Merit."

Hansen said Merit Medical's incentive is part of playing the game in a competitive globalized economy.

"They have places that they can outsource existing jobs to that we're trying to retain in Utah," Hansen said. "Instead of simply bemoaning the day when they move jobs to Ireland, we're trying to give them the incentive to keep jobs here."

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com