Wichita will consider cash payments for Spirit AeroSystems

A Kansas-based aircraft supplier would receive $10 million to support an expansion project but must pay back the money should it leave Wichita in the next two decades, under a proposed agreement with local officials.

Spirit AeroSystems would receive $3 million in cash contributions from Wichita and $7 million from Sedgwick County in the deal that also includes the payback provision, Wichita assistant city manager Scott Rigby told The Wichita Eagle .

The agreement stems from the company's December announcement that it would invest $1 billion in its Wichita plant over five years and hire 1,000 new workers.

Rigby said the "wealth-building jobs" with an average annual wage of $56,000 would allow people to buy homes and new cars.

"It's a good project and we're excited about it," Rigby said.

The agreement calls for Wichita and Sedgwick County to establish the Eclipse Investment Association, which will hold the mortgage on a $23 million facility to be constructed on Spirit's campus. The association would hold the cash contributions in escrow and pay them out incrementally to Spirit during construction.

Spirit would pay the remaining $13 million.

If Spirit doesn't meet its capital investment or job requirements, it would be responsible for paying "liquidated damages," according to the agreement.

The Wichita City Council will consider the agreement Tuesday.

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Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com