IAF helps companies targeting Utah for job growth

Corporate welfare. A wise economic development tool. Inappropriate involvement in the business world. A standard in corporate America.

Whatever you want to call it, the state's Industrial Assistance Fund is an oft-misunderstood incentive program that flies under the radar of the typical Utahn.

The fund, designed to prompt the creation of high-paying jobs in Utah through the relocation or expansion of operations by businesses based either inside or outside the state, is proving popular again as the state and national economies rebound from recession doldrums.

That, plus a track record dating back more than a decade, leads state officials who administer the program to describe the IAF with one word: successful. Often, they say, it has made the difference in Utah landing jobs that companies could have put elsewhere, even when other states' incentives were at least as tempting as Utah's.

"It's not the only decision criteria they're looking at," Mark Renda, who is in charge of the state's incentive programs, said of applying companies. "It's in combination with the available work force, locations to your markets and other factors. But once you've narrowed it down to about the final three communities, then the incentive begins to play."

Typically, an IAF-approved company gets a few thousand dollars per job that is created and that pays a certain level above the county median wage where the expansion or relocation occurs. The companies get the money after the jobs are created and must commit to keeping the operations in Utah at least five years.

David Harmer, executive director of the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development, said companies sometimes are looking for a prime Western location for a distribution center or other facility. Utah, because of its central location in the West, often is a finalist among places that would fit the company's needs.

Then the company wants to discover what incentives are available from the potential sites.

"The kind of incentive they get isn't really going to be a big determinant for them economically, especially over the long term, but if they can save a million dollars, definitely they want that," Harmer said.

"Utah is a great place. We have a lot of great things we offer, but we have to be competitive. Businesses are going to be looking at the bottom line. If they're looking at us versus Colorado or us versus Nevada or wherever, and they think we're comparable in terms of those other areas — in terms of work force and so forth — they look for the incentives to say, 'OK, what's really going to make the difference between these places?' "