Council opens public hearing on Kwik Trip incentive; introduces ordinance to raise incentive threshold

Jasper City Council on Jan. 7 opened a public hearing on a proposed economic development incentive for Kwik Trip Corporation and introduced an ordinance to raise the baseline threshold for the city’s economic assistance program from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000.

Russ, a city staff member, described the proposed incentive as a rebate of 2% of the city sales tax that would be abated for up to five years or until the rebate reaches a $1,800,000 cap: "the incentive granted will be a rebate of the 2% of the sales tax ... and that will be for a period of 5 years or to a maximum of 1,800,000," he said. He told the council the developer reported project costs in excess of $20,000,000 and expects to create 15 full-time and 15 part-time positions (22.5 full-time equivalents), and that the agreement would withhold rebates for any quarter in which employment goals were not met.

The council opened the hearing for public comment; no members of the public spoke. The transcript does not record a vote authorizing Mayor Cowan to execute the agreement at this meeting.

Separately, council members introduced an ordinance to amend the city’s economic assistance ordinance by raising the spending threshold to qualify for the baseline incentive to $2,000,000 from $1,000,000. The measure was introduced for later consideration; no final action was taken at the meeting.

The staff presentation noted standard agreement provisions — quarterly employment verification and anti-discrimination language — and that the developer expects the monetary cap to be reached before the full five-year term. Next steps were listed as continued review and later council consideration of final agreement language and formal approval if the council chooses to proceed.