St. Louis County approves $155 million in tax breaks for Boeing expansion at Lambert

The St. Louis County Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to approve $155 million in tax incentives for Boeing Co.’s proposed $1.8 billion development near St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

The deal gives the aerospace company a 50% cut in real estate and personal property taxes over the next 10 years. It also allows for some building materials to be exempt from sales and use tax.

In return for the incentives, Boeing promises the project will create at least 500 new jobs centered in north St. Louis County.

“We don’t want to lose any more corporate partners here in the St. Louis region,” said Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, who sponsored the bill. “I’m very pleased they will at least be able to compete.”

Days referenced Lockheed Martin, another aerospace company, which has secured a large incentive package, worth nearly $80 million, from Cobb County, Georgia.

“I look at the Boeing opportunity as having a positive financial impact on economic development and other services that go along with the possibility of us getting this,” she said.

A portion of Boeing’s new development will be located in Days’ north county district.

“We are trying to elevate north county, (which) is seen as the stepchild of St. Louis County,” she said. “With these kinds of developments, we’re doing a lot in terms of economic development.”