State OKs funds to lure tech jobs

A local high-tech communication systems company will receive $800,000 from the state of Utah if it brings 400 high-paying jobs to Salt Lake City.

On Thursday, the Board of Business and Economic Development approved Communications Systems-West's application to receive the funds, calling the company a huge economic driver to Utah's economy.

Communications Systems-West, the Salt Lake division of New York-based L3 Communications, already employs 2,000 people in Utah. But the company is experiencing phenomenal growth and expects to hire more than 400 people over the next five years.

Most of the new positions will be engineering jobs, which pay about $75,000 a year, a salary exceeding the Salt Lake County median wage by 200 percent. The company will get $2,000 per employee that meets that wage threshold.

The company had requested $2.4 million for 800 positions. Yet the board's decision in awarding a portion of the request may have been a determining factor in keeping the jobs in Utah, rather than in one of the parent company's 50 other divisions scattered across the country, a company official said.

"L3 Communications has space in other divisions in other states," said Craig Gibson, facilities director for CSW. "The corporation had the option of either expanding in Salt Lake City or moving those operations out of state."

The company has won a number of Department of Defense contracts in recent years. Its products are mostly high-tech communications systems sold to the U.S. government, like those found in U-2 spy planes, satellite communication equipment and unmanned aircraft.

Curtis Brunson, CSW's president, told the board the company has relocated a couple of hundred families to Utah over the past five years. But many of the new hires are graduates from the University of Utah, BYU, Utah State University and Weber State University. Brunson said his company was the largest acquirer of talent out of the University of Utah's engineering school.

So far this year, CSW has hired more than a person a day on average, or about 170 employees.

"We wanted to send a message to our corporation in New York City that the state is standing by us and is willing to invest in our growth," Gibson said. "That's why we approached the committee. We didn't want this business to leave the state of Utah. We wanted to keep it here."

The board also approved an incentive for an undisclosed company to hire 69 new full-time workers. If the hirings occur in a rural area and meet a certain wage level, the company — a manufacturer of building materials — would receive up to $151,800. If the company hires in an urban area, the incentive could total $138,000.

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