In business incentives, some cities get act together better than others

Economic incentives. Do they work? Are deals to attract companies and their jobs even necessary? For economic developers and many city officials, it boils down to the old adage: ?Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.? The controversy with many economic incentives, however, is it?s taxpayer?s money ? or future money ? being tossed about. And increasingly, citizens have something to say about that.

For a series of stories in this issue by writers Caron Ellis and David Clucas, The Business Report was given a list of possible programs that Boulder is reviewing for its new economic…