Mason City council to consider development agreement for Golden Grain expansion project
MASON CITY — The City Council in Mason City tonight will consider a development agreement with Golden Grain Energy for a proposed $23 million expansion project to their facility on the city’s south side.
If approved, the agreement would provide for an annual rebate of 100% of the incremental taxes paid for ten years, up to a maximum of $2 million. That rebate would be only for the estimated $6.2 million of increased value. In return, Golden Grain must add ten more full-time jobs by the end of 2021.
City Administrator Aaron Burnett says agreements like this help add to the city’s tax base in the future. “It’s been a great partnership. I think that they will continue to expand and be prosperous. They have a fantastic group of people over there leading that organization and I think that they continue to make the right decisions to be profitable and to continue to create value for the community.”
Golden Grain and the city successfully executed a development agreement in 2004 in which they provided a minimum of 42 full-time equivalent jobs in exchange for just over $5 million in tax rebates. That helped to leverage Golden Grain into having the highest assessed property value in the city, assessed at just under $19 million this past January. Burnett says the company has been a quality business member of the community. “And you can tell that in conversations with with Golden Grain that they are a very community-minded company and just have been a fantastic group to work with. Much of their leadership does serve in some capacity on some board, whether it be the North Iowa Corridor or many other entities, you see that community involvement, that public involvement, and then obviously you know that their tax support is huge to making sure that the city is able to continue to provide the services to citizens.”
A public hearing will be held prior to the council considering the agreement. The council meets tonight at 7 o’clock in the Mason City Room of the Public Library.
