Posted on Jun 23, 2022
Years after nixing a deal with Tyson, this small Kansas town is still growing
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Four years after fighting off a controversial chicken processing plant, the growing Leavenworth County community approved a deal with little fuss to bring in Topeka-based Hill’s Pet Nutrition with a 10-year, 100% tax abatement.
TONGANOXIE, Kansas — The evening of Aug. 2, 2021, was a big one for this northeast Kansas town.
The major item on the city council’s agenda? A measure to give a 10-year, 100% tax abatement to Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a Topeka-based company with plans to bring a $250 million pet-food plant — along with 80 new jobs — to the community.
The project would later be dubbed a “deal of the year” by Business Facilities magazine.
But first, the council had to hold a public hearing to let Tonganoxie residents give their input.
TONGANOXIE, Kansas — The evening of Aug. 2, 2021, was a big one for this northeast Kansas town.
The major item on the city council’s agenda? A measure to give a 10-year, 100% tax abatement to Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a Topeka-based company with plans to bring a $250 million pet-food plant — along with 80 new jobs — to the community.
The project would later be dubbed a “deal of the year” by Business Facilities magazine.
But first, the council had to hold a public hearing to let Tonganoxie residents give their input.
Years after nixing a deal with Tyson, this small Kansas town is still growing
Posted from kcur.orgPosted in these groups: 
TonganoxieTyson Foods
TonganoxieTyson Foods
Posted 2 y ago
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Hopefully this will all pan out well. We had a major international company make promises about all the jobs they would bring. They were promised $3 billion in tax breaks and credits to create 13,000 jobs over 15 years. 5,000 of those jobs were to be for those from our state. To date they hired only 1,000. Looking at the market, it was decided that they cannot compete even with the government supoprt offered. They have abandoned that plan.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Looking ahead
The Hill’s project ended up passing smoothly, but that doesn’t mean the legacy of the Tyson controversy has ended. “I think the Tyson thing brought us together a little more,” Conrad says. “The negative that came out of it is that people think they can oppose anything now.”
City officials are also more aware these days of social media criticism, and how it can affect their jobs. That’s not always comfortable or welcome. “I’ve dumped all of my Facebook accounts, hard delete of them,” Frese says.
One thing is for sure, though: There will be more big economic development projects coming to Tonganoxie. There has to be. City officials need to fill up the business park for several reasons. They need to provide jobs for the growing community — people who work out of town often spend a lot of their shopping dollars out of town. And somebody needs to pay for the new city services made necessary by the growing population.
“Rooftops do not bring money to take that tax burden off,” Gee says. “Businesses and industries will.”
Frese, meanwhile, hopes that economic development can help Tonganoxie preserve its character and control its own future instead of getting run over by the growth of nearby cities. “If we don’t establish our identity and our own financial independence, I think we will lose that rural feel,” he says.
That means learning the lessons of the Tyson controversy, and applying them to future projects. Nobody wants to endure that acrimony again.
“I got in a fight with a kid back home 100 years ago. And my dad said, ‘That’s fine if you want to fight, but you got to understand your mom and I have to live here,’” Frese says. “And I think of that every day. … You can say what you want, but at the end of the day, we have to live with each other. We have to get along.”
..."Looking ahead
The Hill’s project ended up passing smoothly, but that doesn’t mean the legacy of the Tyson controversy has ended. “I think the Tyson thing brought us together a little more,” Conrad says. “The negative that came out of it is that people think they can oppose anything now.”
City officials are also more aware these days of social media criticism, and how it can affect their jobs. That’s not always comfortable or welcome. “I’ve dumped all of my Facebook accounts, hard delete of them,” Frese says.
One thing is for sure, though: There will be more big economic development projects coming to Tonganoxie. There has to be. City officials need to fill up the business park for several reasons. They need to provide jobs for the growing community — people who work out of town often spend a lot of their shopping dollars out of town. And somebody needs to pay for the new city services made necessary by the growing population.
“Rooftops do not bring money to take that tax burden off,” Gee says. “Businesses and industries will.”
Frese, meanwhile, hopes that economic development can help Tonganoxie preserve its character and control its own future instead of getting run over by the growth of nearby cities. “If we don’t establish our identity and our own financial independence, I think we will lose that rural feel,” he says.
That means learning the lessons of the Tyson controversy, and applying them to future projects. Nobody wants to endure that acrimony again.
“I got in a fight with a kid back home 100 years ago. And my dad said, ‘That’s fine if you want to fight, but you got to understand your mom and I have to live here,’” Frese says. “And I think of that every day. … You can say what you want, but at the end of the day, we have to live with each other. We have to get along.”
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Kudos to the town for continuing the efforts to bring jobs to their community. Kudos to the company for finding a tax friendly environment for their business.
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