Seven hundred sixty-three jobs.

That is an outstanding track record in Freeborn County for the Job Opportunity Building Zone — or JOBZ — tax-incentive program.

It’s too bad that state lawmakers will let the program sunset in 2015. The closer we get to 2015, the less incentive there really is. So far lawmakers have failed to come up with a replacement program. It is a perennial campaign issue but nothing ever comes of it.

JOBZ is a program geared to bring jobs to Greater Minnesota. In some places, it hasn’t worked, perhaps because local officials couldn’t do the marketing or there were other factors. In others, it has been astounding. It began in 2004 under Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and it has been especially helpful in Albert Lea in the wake of the 2001 closure of Farmland Foods and the loss of 500 jobs.

Sure, some legislators in the Twin Cities have complained about not having a similar package, but the Cities already has advantages of population, resources, labor base and infrastructure. JOBZ allowed the state to encourage growth where growth had been stagnant. It enabled communities in Greater Minnesota to compete with neighboring states.

We hope that in the 2013 legislative session a replacement program for JOBZ can be found, something that will allow Albert Lea economic development officials to continue attracting companies and expanding the ones already here.