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Craig — The Moffat County Commission has more in common with the thoughts of Darcy Trask, Craig/Moffat Economic Development Partnership director, than it previously thought.

A discussion during the Commission's meeting Tuesday showed the county's highest authority to be open to government incentives for private businesses, which has been a contentious issue between county officials and the EDP.

Trask spoke about three opportunities for Northwest Colorado that are on the table as of today, although she could not attest to the likelihood of them coming to fruition.

One is a home construction manufacturing business, which the Craig City Council approved as an appropriate opportunity to offer land and free services at its meeting Nov. 11. Another also is a light manufacturing company that requires a 1,000 square foot warehouse, and the third is an energy firm looking to build a biofuel plant in the area, but that may be more interested in Walden, Trask said.

Company names were withheld in each case for confidentiality.

Trask did not ask the commissioners to commit to incentives for any of the three but did want to get some direction about how the county might approach such measures.

Commissioners Tom Gray and Tom Mathers said the county could offer deferred taxation - where a startup company wouldn't have to pay taxes during its first few years, but would have to make up the money later - or could offer forms of property tax breaks.

Those kinds of offers likely would be for the best opportunities, Gray said, such as businesses that offer high-paying jobs and don't compete with local companies, which was a major sticking point for the commissioner.

Trask said that also would be her ideal business, but those parameters may not be realistic, and attracting competing businesses with incentives may be necessary to grow the local economy.

"My sense is, to meet the criteria you would lay out, those businesses would be the cream of the crop," Trask said. "That's where we need to be unflinchingly honest with ourselves. Are there enough cream-of-the-crop businesses out there interested in coming to a remote, rural area?"

Gray said he is comfortable with smaller incentives for businesses that don't meet his criteria, such as fast-tracking the planning and development process.

He and Trask agreed incentives should be offered based on the benefit the county would receive.

"We have no plans to use a one-size-fits-all incentive plan," Trask said, adding that incentive packages probably would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Trask and the Commission members said they would like the community to give them feedback about what direction they should take, and how aggressive they should be in offering incentives to prospective businesses.

City Council members also said they would like community direction for future projects.

Trask can be contacted at the EDP office at 826-2039, and all three commissioners share the same office number, 824-5517.

City councilors do not keep offices at City Hall, but residents can call City Manager Jim Ferree at 826-2023.