Additional information: Ask The Answer Person: "In today's dollars, what incentive was given to Fareway when they built their new store?"

The Answer Person says: "The City of Decorah provided $300,000 in tax assistance to Fareway when they were building their new store on Main Street in 1996.

$300,000 in 1996 dollars would translate to $489,077 in 2019 dollars--just under $500,000.  A letter from Ridge Development stated that the $300,000 in 1996 dollars would translate to "nearly $600,000 today," but we used an on-line currency calculator from the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis and double-checked the results against those of a second and a third currency calculator and always came up with the "just under $500,000" figure. By comparison, the developer in the Hy Vee project has asked for $749,000 in incentives.

Fareway's new store in 1996 carried a price tag of $1.4 million.  $1,400,000 in 1996 dollars would equal just under $2.3 million in 2019 dollars.  So let's compare "apples to apples," using 2019 dollars:

Fareway's store price tag: $2.3 million

Fareway's tax assistance: $500,000

Percentage of tax assistance: 21.7 percent

Former Quillin's developer's upgrade budget: $3 million

Developer's tax assistance: $750,000

Percentage of tax assistance: 25.0 percent

(An identical percentage of tax assistance would be $651,000)