City loans $500,000 to Bell Lumber

Bell Lumber & Pole will receive a $500,000 performance based loan from the city of Sidney.

Although this loan was already approved by the city council in fall 2012, when construction of the utility pole treatment plant was announced, the two entities officially entered into the loan agreement with city council approval this week.

The money for the loan will come from a fund authorized by the Sidney voters in 2007 specifically to be used for job creation projects. These funds are provided as an incentive for major projects like the Bell plant to attract businesses to the community. These funds are collected through sales taxes.

“We have been very selective about how we’ve been using those funds, so we actually have that amount of money accumulated, so it’s not like we’re borrowing against future revenue,” said city manager Gary Person.

Bell applied for the loan from the job creation fund with the stipulation that the company would put at least $10 million in new investment into the community and create at least 31 new jobs.

“You can go out there at any time and see the investment they’ve put in place,” Person said.

There are currently more than 31 workers on the company’s payroll, but some are employed through a temporary service and don’t count toward Bell’s required amount. These employees could be made permanent in the future. After three years, the Bell company must prove that it has created 31 or more jobs, or it must pay the city $16,000 per employee.

Councilman Chris Gay wondered if the city had utilized this type of agreement before and how the employees were counted.

Person answered that every time the city entered into this sort of agreement in the past, the company far exceeded the required head count.

Bell and Adams Industries are currently working on additional expansions at the site.

“They fit right into the business family that we have here,” Person said.

All of the city’s successful incentives to local companies have been performance base, Person pointed out.

The $25 million Bell Lumber & Pole plant is located on the north side of the Adams Industrial Park, about six miles west and two miles north of Sidney. The plant began operations in early April, but held its grand opening on May 8. Multiple state officials as well as many local dignitaries attended the event.

“It’s been a great project,” Gay said.