Cabela's to pay back $173,000 in local tax incentives

The incentive contract between Cabela's and local governments requires the company to maintain the equivalent of 225 full-time positions. In January, company officials told local officials that its sprawling Buda store and museum had 190.4 full-time positions at the end of 2007.

Cabela's will pay $5,000 per full-time position below the target, Buda Finance Director Sarah Mangham told the Austin American-Statesman. The city will receive $77,521; Hays County will get $38,648; and the Buda Economic Development Corp. will receive $56,831. Including these amounts, Cabela's has returned $260,500 of the grants provided by the Buda and Hays County governments.

The company also could have to repay some of the $400,000 it received from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Cabela's has to have a combined total of 400 full-time positions at its Buda and Fort Worth locations, including 160 at each store. The retailer will owe $332 per position below that benchmark, per its agreement with the enterprise fund.

Whether or how much it owes won't be official until Cabela's files its employment figures with the state a report that's almost three months overdue.

The retailer was supposed to send those figures by Jan. 31, said Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry. Cabela's also missed the deadline last year, she said.