Though the pace has slowed, a fair number of companies are still seeking state tax incentives for future expansions.

An updated list of companies applying for incentives, provided by the Nebraska Department of Revenue, shows roughly three dozen new applications since Aug. 1 last year, including seven with operations in Lincoln.

That’s a slower rate in the number of  applications — there were 118 in the first 18 months after Nebraska Advantage took effect in 2006 — but the state’s economic development chief says that’s not too bad considering the state of the national economy

“We clearly are bucking a bit of a national trend,” said Richard Baier, director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Lincoln Benefit Life has no official plans to add jobs in Lincoln.

But that hasn’t stopped its owner, Allstate, from putting in an application for tax breaks under the Nebraska Advantage Act, estimating it will add 100 jobs and invest $10 million sometime in the near future.

Spokeswoman Teresa Ingram said Allstate is always looking to grow its business in Nebraska and put in the application in anticipation of future growth.

“Expectations are that we will be able to use it,” she said.

Lincoln Benefit Life has added about 350 people since it opened its new campus in east Lincoln in 1999, including nearly 100 in the past year, and now employs 1,100 people in Lincoln.

Ingram said Lincoln Benefit Life will likely continue to expand here, as Allstate continues to grow its life insurance and annuities business.

In addition to Lincoln Benefit Life, Cook’s Ham and Sandhills Publishing have also made recent Nebraska Advantage Act applications proposing to spend $10 million and create 100 jobs.

Cook’s Ham, like Lincoln Benefit Life, has no current, formal expansion plans at its plant at 200 S. Second St., said Marc Kuemmerlein, vice president and general counsel of Farmland Foods, which owns Cook’s and is owned by Smithfield.

“We can’t speak to any specific projects,” Kuemmerlein said, “but we intend to stay in business up there and we know that in order to stay in business we will have to make capital improvements over time,” Kuemmerlein said.

Farmland is happy with the Lincoln location, which it bought from ConAgra Foods about two-and-a-half years ago, he said.

It’s also happy with the incentives offered under Nebraska Advantage.

“Nebraska offers a strong program, and we’re pleased to be part of it,” said Tom Messick, Lincoln plant manager for Cook’s Ham.

Allstate has been impressed with Nebraska Advantage as well, said Ingram.

A couple of years ago the company got a $116,000 sales tax refund related to an expansion that qualified for tax incentives under a previous tax break package called LB 775.

Ingram said the company feels it has little to lose by putting in an application for incentives.

The law gives companies 7 years to make their proposed investment, and the cost to apply is only $2,500, which is negligible for a large company like Allstate.

Sandhills Publishing officials could not be reached for comment on their proposed expansion.

Other companies putting in new Nebraska Advantage applications in the past year proposing expansion in Lincoln were Sysco, Cornhusker Bank, GTE Industries and GeneSeek. Also, Li-Cor amended a previous application and increased the number of jobs and financial investment.

Some companies in nearby counties applied for incentives to expand, including Elster American Meter in Nebraska City and Reinke Manufacturing in Deshler.

Baier said the fact that the applications are coming from companies in a variety of businesses is a good thing.

Though Nebraska’s economy has not been hit as hard as the nation’s, largely due to strength in the agricultural sector, the majority of the recent Nebraska Advantage applications have been for companies not connected to agriculture.

For instance, with the Lincoln applications, there is an insurer, a couple of food companies, a publishing company, a bank, an automotive parts company, and two biosciences firms.

“I think we’re very fortunate in Lincoln and in Nebraska that we have great diversification in business,” Baier said. “They really help us keep the boat floating in some of these challenging times.”

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.