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West Valley City • The City Council is putting up some cheese for Cheetos.

The city's economic development agency will pay Frito-Lay Inc. up to $500,000 in tax incentives over three years to build a $35 million expansion that will manufacture Cheetos and employ 25 additional people.

"They didn't have the assembly line here," said Jon Springmeyer, business retention manager for the West Valley City Redevelopment Agency. "We want them to continue to reinvest."

The City Council approved the incentive deal unanimously Tuesday evening. Employees for the development agency passed out small bags of Frito-Lay chips to the council after the vote.

Frito-Lay first came to West Valley City in 1995. Its production facility at 6301 W. 4700 South employs between 100 and 249 employees and produces six different brands, including Doritos, Ruffles and Lay's potato chips. The new facility is set to expand on the current location.

Under the deal, Frito-Lay will be able to apply for tax rebates on the estimated $1.4 million in new property taxes related to the expansion from 2018 to 2020. The company will have those three years to collect up to $500,000. After 2020, even if Frito-Lay has not completed the construction or has not collected less than the maximum, the company cannot continue to claim tax rebates.

These kinds of deals are rare in West Valley City. In the past eight years, the Redevelopment Agency offered 11 similar tax incentive projects, according to Mark Nord, West Valley City Redevelopment Agency director. But, given the size of Frito-Lay's investment, how much additional taxes the city would collect and the jobs that would be created, Nord said, the deal was worth it to keep the chip company expanding here.

"Any time you can get a company to reinvest, you've got to take a look at that," Nord said.

Current average wages at Frito-Lay must be above the Salt Lake County average wage of $49,499 to qualify for the incentive. A current opening for a full-time warehouse/material handler at the West Valley facility pays on the lower end of that, offering $16.50-$17.37 per hour, which would be about $34,000-$36,000 annually based on a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks a year.

Construction is expected to begin this fall.