Brigham City approves participation agreement with Utah Inland Port Authority and Nucor Towers and Structures

Brigham City on Sept. 18 approved a resolution authorizing the city to enter a participation agreement with the Utah Inland Port Authority and Nucor Towers and Structures to help fund infrastructure for a new Nucor facility in the city's Inland Port project area.

The agreement is a three‑way arrangement in which incremental property-tax revenues from the Inland Port (the “property tax differential”) will be applied to debt service on infrastructure the city built — notably a new electrical substation — and Nucor has agreed to cover any shortfall in those tax-differential dollars, city staff said.

Nicole Cottle, Brigham City’s city attorney (joining the meeting online), described the contract terms and the purpose of the deal. “This is an exciting day. . . . It sets forth the opportunity to facilitate some of the infrastructure that needed to be done,” Cottle said, describing roadway and power improvements the agreement supports. Cottle said the arrangement is structured so the city will be protected if incremental tax revenue is insufficient to meet annual debt-service payments; Nucor will provide the difference.

City Administrator Tom Euler said the participation agreement mirrors other Inland Port arrangements the council has seen: incremental tax revenue flows back to the project and is used to pay debt service tied to infrastructure improvements. Euler told the council that Nucor will be responsible for about two-thirds of the electrical substation cost related to their facility, while roughly one-third is attributable to city expansion in the area. “Nucor is gonna be responsible for 66% of that electrical substation, 33% city for further expansion in the area,” Euler said.

Euler also noted a clerical error in the draft agreement: the completion date listed as “02/1927” will be corrected. He said the resolution, if approved, would also give the city administrator authority to update exhibits in the agreement as actual construction bids and costs are finalized.

The council voted by roll call to approve the resolution. Council member Troxell moved approval; Council member Jeffries seconded. The mayor called the roll and members present voted in favor; the mayor declared the motion passed.

The agreement names the Utah Inland Port Authority and Nucor Towers and Structures as parties and authorizes the city to accept tax-differential flows and to account for Nucor’s committed subsidy should revenues prove insufficient. Staff said the electrical substation work is already underway and that some power from the substation could be available for other nearby uses beyond the Nucor facility.

The council’s approval authorizes execution of the participation agreement and delegates limited authority to staff to update contract exhibits as final costs are known.

The council moved to the next agenda item after the vote; councilmembers did not raise additional conditions at the meeting.