Utah County Commissioner Gary Anderson hates taxes. His counterparts on the commission, Larry Ellertson and Steve White, don't like taxes much, either. So these government leaders, who preside over the fastest growing county in the state, have turned to economic development to build the economy, grow jobs and lessen the tax burden on county residents.

"We do not like taxes. Our people do not like taxes," Anderson reiterates. "Rather than raise taxes, we are expanding our economy by growing businesses. We have the infrastructure -- the power, the water, the workforce and the government willpower to make it happen. Utah County is business-development friendly, and we are becoming more so every day."

Such political will, combined with the support of local business and civic leaders, has turned the county into a hot bed for growth. Says Anderson: "Utah County is hot, and we are so excited we can't stand it."

The excitement is certainly well deserved. The Utah County economy was hit hard when Geneva Steel shut down its operations permanently in 2002. The demise of the steel mill cost the area thousands of jobs and put the county into economic distress. In 2007, the Utah County Commission made the decision to outsource economic development to the private sector, rather than create an economic development department. Bids were let and EDCUtah was selected.

Anderson was skeptical that economic development could be outsourced. "I was very skeptical," he emphasizes, "but willing to try it for a year and see how it went. The results have been far beyond anything I ever dreamed possible."

After winning the outsourcing bid, EDCUtah's Russ Fotheringham took on the role as economic development manager for Utah County, splitting his time between an office on the Novell campus in Provo and his office at EDCUtah's headquarters in Salt Lake City. Among his many activities, Fotheringham leads a monthly economic development forum on the Novell Campus. The forums began with only four or five attendees, but have since grown to include 40-50 attendees each month. Participants include local mayors, economic developers, real estate agents, county commissioners and even legislative leaders.

Through the economic forum, participants are able to discuss economic development activities in the county, compare notes, receive training and stay engaged with one another. "Everyone is on the same page and the whole county is excited," says Anderson.

Through his economic development work, Fotheringham recognized that Utah County was lacking in "prepared sites" -- business, industrial or commercial space with sufficiently documented information, such as size, availability, infrastructure and demographics -- which companies often seek when looking to expand or relocate. Therefore, he began working with economic developers, real estate companies and developers to add information about their commercial and industrial properties to EDCUtah's SURE Sites database. To date 25 such Utah County properties have been added to the database, with two or three more in process. Fotheringham says his goal is to have at least 40 Utah County sites in the database.

"Economic development opportunities are limited without having prepared sites, that businesses can look at immediately," he says.

Anderson describes Utah County's relationship with EDCUtah as "the perfect marriage," adding that "Russ works closely with the county as he leads the economic development activities. He knows the territory; he has the contacts, and EDCUtah provides him with the support. It's a win-win relationship."

The fruits of the Utah County-EDCUtah teaming relationship are readily apparent, with more to come. Anderson points out that Microsoft is leasing space at Thanksgiving Park in Lehi, where it will employ approximately 100 personnel, and Delta 7 Sports has expanded its advanced composites and manufacturing facility in Payson, creating 50 new, full-time jobs. Meanwhile, albeit scaled back somewhat due to the recession, Duncan Aviation is still locating a corporate jet service center at the Provo airport, with plans to expand as the economy turns around.

"And that's just the tip of the iceberg," says Anderson. "We are looking at the addition of 3,000 - 4,000 new jobs in Utah County over the next couple of years."

EDCUtah President and CEO Jeff Edwards shares Anderson's excitement. Edwards isn't in a position to speak of specific details, but says Fotheringham and EDCUtah's economic developers are working on several large, high-value projects that are considering Utah County locations. "There are a wide variety of opportunities that could add many jobs to the county in sectors from manufacturing to engineering," he adds.

Creating jobs in a variety of business sectors is important to the Utah County Commissioners. Being called a "mini Silicon Valley" is great, Anderson says, and having two universities in the county has helped foster growth in the IT sector, but the commissioners are interested in creating both blue collar and white collar jobs. "We want a good mix of manufacturing and technical-type jobs," he explains.

Edwards says Utah County is lucky to have commissioners who are so focused on economic development and fortunate to have achieved such a high level of interest and participation from so many Utah County communities.