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State announces major expansion, tax incentives for Northrop Grumman in Northern Utah

By Mitch Shaw standard-Examiner - | Jan 10, 2020

OGDEN — Supported by a state-based tax incentive, a global aerospace and defense technology company is expanding in Weber County.

The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development recently announced that Northrop Grumman will expand operations in Weber County, with a plan to add up to 2,250 jobs and $380 million in capital investment over the next two decades.

Northrop which is currently the largest security and defense company in Utah with more than 5,100 employees across the state, primarily located in Clearfield, Ogden, Promontory and Salt Lake, will be eligible to earn back 30% of the new state taxes they will pay as part of a 20-year agreement with the state.

The state expects the expansion to bring in nearly $200 million in new tax revenues. The tax credit rebate would be capped at $59.9 million, according to GOED, with Northrop receiving a portion of the total each year it meets the criteria in its contract with the state.

Without offering specifics, Greg Manuel, vice president of Northrop Grumman’s ground-based strategic deterrent enterprise, called the jobs related to the deal “high-paying.”

Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Roy, said average wages associated with the deal would be about $102,000 per year.

“We have so many good, talented people who are traveling to Salt Lake (County) for work,” Schultz said. “Having more high-paying jobs up here is good for a number of reasons.”

In August, Northrop broke ground on the Roy Innovation Center, a site that will serve as future headquarters for the aerospace company’s work supporting the DoD’s GBSD program. Construction is rapidly progressing on the building, which is located just south of the Hill Aerospace Museum, near Hill’s border with Roy.

The United States’ current land-based ballistic missile force is currently made up of some 400 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. The Air Force is upgrading the missiles, their rocket motors and other components, but plans to replace them through the GBSD program by about 2030. According to the Congressional Research Service, the new program will cost $80 billion and run for 30 years. The total cost includes the acquisition of missiles, new command and control systems, and large-scale renovations of launch control centers.

The program will eventually include six new buildings at Hill — over one million square feet of office and lab facilities. Completion on first 231,000 square feet is scheduled to be finished by mid 2020.

GOED Executive Director Val Hale said the new tax credit deal “could create jobs for Hill Air force Base for generations to come.”

Theresa A. Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, called the deal a “significant win for Northern Utah.”

“Northrop Grumman is the state’s largest private sector employer in aerospace and defense, and they continue to demonstrate their confidence in doing business here,” Foxley said in a press release. “On a broader level, we as Utahns can be proud of what this means in terms of national defense and global security.”

In addition to the Northrop news, Schultz said Proctor and Gamble is also planning to add 221 new jobs at their Box Elder County production facility. Schultz said those average wages would be about $80,000 per year.