The incentive, worth $3,000 per new job created for a maximum of 15 positions, was approved Friday by the Governor's Office of Economic Development board.

The board, made up of public and private sector community representatives, meets monthly to decide which companies should get incentive offers.

In the case of DBT, however, the award was less of an incentive and more of a thank you.

Mike Nelson, Utah's director of business recruitment and incentives, said he views the $45,000 incentive as a demonstration of Utah's gratitude that the company, which employs 100 people in Huntington, is adding jobs in Utah instead of its other locations.

"These are really high-paying jobs for the area," he said.

DBT employs approximately 100 people in Utah at facilities in Huntington and Price, which service, rebuild and repair mining equipment.

The company considered expansion in Grand Junction, Colo., Green River, Wyo., and in Huntington before settling on the Emery County community, said Tim McCallum, a vice president of DBT America Inc.

McCallum would not divulge any wage information. But according to its application for incentive money, the new jobs, all full-time with benefits, will pay an average wage of $24,500, which is 25 percent higher than the median wage of $19,600 for Emery County. The average wage does not include the value of the benefits offered by the company, such as health insurance.

"From a rural perspective, a job with health care benefits is worth its weight in gold," said GOED board member and San Juan Record publisher Bill Boyle. "People line up to get them."

lesley@sltrib.com