UIB pursuing $45 M expansion

LIME SPRINGS - Upper Iowa Beef (UIB) is planning on a nearly $50 million expansion over the next three years. 

Howard County Economic Development Director Jason Passmore explained part of the project to Lime Springs City Council members at the Jan. 3 regular meeting. Also attending was Casey Sebastian of Iowa Rural Water. Sebastian was the previous Public Works Director for Lime Springs and understands the water and sewer system.

“UIB is currently looking at a $45 million project. The State of Iowa has given them a five-year window. This includes three years to build the expansion and two years to maintain it. The state figures that will be 172 new workers,” Passmore noted. Currently, there are about 278 employees coming from all over the region.

The goal is to make it so the plant can take care of 800 head of cattle a day. Currently, the capacity is about 420. “They want 800 head, but it will probably be closer to 600-700,” added Passmore.

The construction plan calls for adding a packaging area, wastewater plant and more cattle pens for 2023; possibly a grind area, where a retail store may be in the works, and bigger employee area, for 2024; and carcass coolers for 2024-2025.

New construction will cost about $13 million; machinery will cost around 21.5M, with $17M being wastewater management; $8-9M will be remodeling; and the rest will be miscellaneous expenses.

Passmore told Council that when the paperwork is submitted to the State, it will want to see that the City is all in for support. “The minimum the State will expect is five years of tax rebatement. It could be as high as 20 years.” After five years, the City would actually get the property taxes 18 months after that.

Although everything is negotiable if the City and UIB work together on some water and wastewater projects. The City may need to look at increasing the amount of output for the water tower, increase lagoon capabilities and upgrade the well.

All Council members agreed they were in favor of showing their support for UIB’s expansion. They are planning to tour the complex and get together with both sets of engineers to see if a plan can be explored.

Sebastian answered some other questions regarding what other towns around the state are doing for big industry needs, and what might be good ideas to pursue. One of those was explaining how a SAGR System for the lagoon system would work for Lime Springs.

He also offered, “This is what Iowa Rural Water does. You are going to have lots of questions for the next few years. I can help you understand that important information.”